Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ What are these Memories? ❯ Chapter 19 ( Chapter 19 )

Author's Note: Reading back on my reviews, I realize that at least half the people wanted this to be an ItaSaku fic. I still stand firm on my resolve for it becoming a SasuSaku fic (remember I did promise you an ItaSaku fic when I'm done with this one). Also, it seems that I still have not yet remembered what Sakura was going to tell Sasuke. So here's what I need you guys to do. I need you guys to tell me what you think she's going to tell him, that way it might jog my memory a bit so I can remember. If I still can't, well, it'll be a good idea bank to use. You see? It's a win-win situation here.

 

Things to do/improve:

Make chapters longer.

Have chapters free from grammatical errors.

Have smoother transitions into flashbacks.

KEEP ITACHI IN CHARACTER!

 

-Yuugi-chan

 

Italics- flashbacks

 

Chapter 19

 

Sakura picked at her ramen with her chopsticks. She had hardly eaten any of it.

“Oi, Sakura, are you going to have the rest of that?” Naruto asked her. She started to scoot the bowl over towards him, but a hand stopped her.

“You are going to eat that Sakura, weither you like it or not. I don't care if you barf it back up afterwards, just as long as you finish it,” Sasuke blandly stated, fixing her with an intense gaze. Sakura sighed and then continued to pick at her food once more.

“Your brother said the same thing,” she said, sighing once more.

“I don't care what he said to you concerning your eating habits. All you need to focus on right now is the food that's in front of you. I'm tired of seeing you starve yourself.”

“He said that too,” she mumbled as she began to stir her food around in the bowl once more.

“You know we have another mission, right?” Naruto asked.

“Yes, I know,” she softly replied. Sasuke found it quite pointless to ask. Sakura was ANBU captain after all. Sasuke looked back towards her and saw an emotionless face staring down at its food. `Whatever happened to the Sakura that cried for me when I left and pointlessly asked me out on dates? Whatever happened to her?' he wondered. `Just what exactly happened to make her change this way?'

 

Sasuke stopped at Sakura's front door, his pink-haired teammate trailing along behind him. He had walked Sakura home after she had reluctantly eaten. The food didn't stay for long in her stomach though because as soon as they left, she heaved up its contents into the nearest bush.

“Feeling better?” he asked as she walked past him to open the door. She silently shook her head and stepped inside. The house was dark and she didn't even bother to turn the lights on as she flopped down onto her bed. “Are you sure you'll be able to sleep?” he tonelessly inquired.

“What's it matter?” she countered softly. “Since when have you ever cared?” Sasuke sighed as he closed the door behind him and flicked on the lights.

“Sakura, what's going on?” he asked as he sat down on the edge of her bed.

“Nothing,” she answered.

“If it really was nothing, I wouldn't be asking you.”

“It's none of your business. Now get out of my house.”

“No. That I will not and cannot do.”

Nani? Let me go!

Tell me why I should kunoichi.

“Fine, see what I care.” As the hours passed Sakura looked over to her dark-haired companion who seemed to be dozing off. “Sasuke-kun, why are you still here with me?” Sasuke looked up.

“Because I'm concerned about your health,” he replied.

“You didn't seem to care about my health when you knocked me out and left me on a cold park bench. You know I waited two years on that bench and almost died when I had hypothermia during the winter months.”

“That was then, this is now.” There was a pause.

“Why are you concerned about my health?”

“Because I care about you. There, I said it! Happy?”

“No, not really.”

“The question was rhetorical.” Again, there was another pause, longer this time, before Sasuke spoke again. “Sakura, do you still…” he forced the words past his throat. “Still love me?”

“Nani?” she asked, a bit surprised by his question and wondered if she heard him right.

“Do you still love me?” he spoke, more confident this time.

“I- I don't know,” she replied.

“Hn.” There was a pregnant pause for a third time that night. “Sakura, can I sleep next to you?”

“NANI?” now she knows that she has heard something incorrectly.

“Please don't make me repeat that,” he requested, flushing.

“I guess so…” He flopped down onto the bed next to her and wrapped his arms around her like the last time they were together. She fought the urge to scratch and claw at him to let her go. “You're- You're so different at night, Sasuke-kun,” she stated.

“I could tell you the very same thing, Sakura.” She made herself more comfortable and drifted off to sleep snuggled up against his chest. Nightmares didn't plague her mind that night for the first time in a long while.

 

When Sakura woke up, she was a bit frightened and confused waking up in a man's arms. She tried to break free of his grasp, but he held firm. She began to claw at the arm holding her captive like she did when her teacher tried to control her. Sasuke was woken up her scratching and stared into the face of a wild-eyed Sakura.

“Sakura, what's the matter?” he asked. Sakura looked up at him and immediately stopped her small tirade. She had forgotten whose arms she was in in the first place.

“Sorry,” she whispered. Sasuke looked at her for a moment then looked at the clock, 2:43.

“Sakura, I have to go now,” he said, untangling her from his grasp.

“But…” she protested.

“I'll see you tomorrow night, alright?” he said, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand. He grabbed his ANBU mask that he had left there when he had come and visited her after their previous mission. He gave her a light kiss on the cheek, put on his mask, and silently shut the door behind him. Sakura raised a hand to her cheek. It was still warm from his touch.

Why are you still here with me Sasuke-kun?

Because I'm concerned about your health.

Why are you concerned about my health?

Because I care about you.

You are going toeat that Sakura, weither you like it or not. I don't care if you vomit it back up afterwards, just as long as you finish it.

Your brother said the same thing.

I'm tired of seeing you starve yourself.

He said that too…

Sakura started to silently cry. He had left her again, and who knew when he was coming back. Would he still think about her the same way? `He's just gone away on a mission, that's all,' she reasoned with herself. Her sobbing subsided at the thought. `It's just that I feel so safe when I'm with him. I feel pure instead of dirty and violated when I'm with his brother. I want to feel safe…' A scratching sound was heard from her window. She whipped her head around to face whoever or whatever was causing the noise. Her eyes narrowed at the culprit. She let off a sigh and opened the window.

“What do you want Itachi?” she hissed at the man sitting on the wall outside her house.

“Absolutely nothing,” he replied.

“Then why are you here?”

“Do I really need a reason for why I came here?”

“Yes.”

“Well you're not getting one.”

“Would you stop being so difficult?”

“No.”

“You and your one word answers! So did you come here just to bug me?”

“You make it sound like a bad thing when you put it in those terms. I was going to see if you were having nightmares again.”

“What are my nightmares to you?” He said nothing. “Well?” Again, he no words escaped his lips. “Look, just because we have a deal does not give you the right to go and follow me like some stalker.”

“I can do whatever I like kunoichi,” he replied. She growled in annoyance and Itachi smirked at this. “You're not very patient, are you?”

“What's it to you?”

“You still haven't told him.”

“How am I supposed to tell him? Now go and leave me alone!” He sighed.

“All right, as you wish.” He disappeared to god knows where and Sakura was left alone to her thoughts once more. `This is the fourth time he's dropped by here with no purpose whatsoever as to annoy me!' she fumed. Sakura lay back down with the cool breeze flowing across her skin from her now open window. She closed her eyes, and nightmares plagued her again.

 

Sakura didn't eat anything anymore. It didn't matter if Itachi was around or not, she just didn't eat. Itachi didn't say anything about this for the first few days, but by the end of the week, he became skeptical. On one of these days he brought her her food and sat down in his usual chair, watching her. She just poked at the contents of her plate with her fork (he started giving her forks instead of chopsticks because she had the tendency to break them). After about ten minutes, Itachi spoke up.

“You will eat that kunoichi,” he said.

“No, I will not.”

“Yes, you will. I don't care if you have to vomit it back up afterwards, but you will eat what's in front of you.”

“Make me.”

“I am not going to force feed you kunoichi.”

“Then why do you care so much?”

“I just tired of seeing you starve yourself. If you keep this up, you'll be in an even worse condition than when you were first brought here.”

“If I remember correctly, I didn't want to come here in the first place.”

“And if it weren't for me you would have been raped then killed.”

“I've been stuck with you for three and a half months. I'd have much rather had that done to me than stay here for this long.”

“I can arrange that kunoichi.”

“…”

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“Would you like for me to arrange that for you?” She looked down at the ground.

“No.”

“Then don't say things that you don't mean.”

“Quit staring at me!”

“Eat your food.”

“No.”

“Then I will sit here and stare at you until you do.” She said nothing. “Tell me, why have you been neglecting to eat?”

“I don't need to give you a reason for anything.” He said nothing. Twenty minutes passed between the two before Sakura stood up to walk out the door.

“Where are you going kunoichi?”

“Is that any of your business?”

“Yes.” She growled in annoyance.

“Fine, I'm going to bathroom! Do I really need your permission for that?”

“Eat first.”

“But I have to go!”

“Then eat quickly.” She mumbled something under her breath to which Itachi raised and eyebrow at. She sat down, scarfed down her food, and then stood back up.

“Now may I go?” she asked impatiently.

“Yes, you may,” he replied, waving her off.

 

“God damn him for having a younger brother!” she snarled when she came back from finishing her business. “He knows how to use bargaining skills to his advantage because of it!” She wrenched open the door and forcefully shut it behind her.

“Don't slam the doors kunoichi,” he said.

“What's it to you?”

“I'm just telling you not to, that's all. Seeing as you forget about your chakra control when you're angry, you might rip the door off its hinges.”

“Should I take that as a compliment?”

“You can take that any way you like kunoichi.” She sighed and took out a pad of paper and a pen. “What's that for?” he asked.

“So I can stick it in your eye,” she started. “ What do you think it's for? I write with it!”

“About what?”

“My medical studies. I always keep a log of my patients weither their Akatsuki or not. It's just a habit I have.” She started sketching as she spoke. Itachi watched her mumbling to herself as she worked. To him, it looked like she was sketching out the anatomy of an eyeball. After a few minutes he spoke up.

“May I inquire as to why you are sketching that?” he asked.

“The anatomy of the Sharingan intrigues me. It's quite different than the Byakugan, though they are supposedly genetically related. Personally, I've only been able to study the Byakugan more thoroughly than the former. I only have a limited knowledge of how the Sharingan differs anatomically under natural conditions as Kakashi-sensei's is transplanted.” She looked at the sketch, cocked her head at it, shook her head, and then erased something.

“Mistake?” he asked.

“No, not really. Just found something that didn't make sense with the theory I came up with.” She reached into her medical bag and pulled out what seemed to be a red china pencil. She made a few markings with it and then deposited it back into the bag.

“When did you get that back?” he inquired. I gleam showed in her eye.

“Heh, I swiped it while the medic-nins weren't looking. They must be going berserk trying to find it now,” she said smugly. She flipped a few pages back and then frowned. “Damn it.”

“Now what?”

“They took the pages out that had my more advanced studies! It took me weeks to compile all that information and form a valid theory on it!” She growled in frustration. “I'll kill them when I get my hands on them!” And with that, she stood up, stomped out the door, and then slammed it behind her. Itachi looked down at the floor to find some sheets that had fallen out of the notebook. He picked it up and studied it. He could make out a few things, but other than that, he couldn't make heads or tails of it. He looked up when he heard an extremely loud argument between a few people outside the door. `Now what has she gotten herself into this time?'