Arrangements

5

It takes her a week, but somehow Sakura manages to draw the sullen boy that is Itachi's little brother out of his resentful shell. She doesn't truly understand why he seems to have disliked her before they even met, but she is perceptive enough to know it isn't necessarily because of her personally. Most likely, it is due to her engagement to his older brother. What she knows of the brothers' relationship is limited to what Itachi has told her, or implied. Itachi is very protective of his brother, more so than to anyone else. Sasuke looks up to him, but due to Itachi's genius, the expectations of their father and clan is doing his little brother an injustice.

Sakura thinks it's unfair to judge someone like that, to expect someone to be someone they are not, instead of nurturing and encouraging them to become their own person, their own kind of genius. When she had made that remark to Itachi four days into her stay in Konoha, he had smiled and tucked a stray strand of her behind her ear, praising her. When she decided to repeat it to Sasuke, he had stared at her blankly before flushing a deep red and walking away. At dinner the same night, was the first time he willingly initiated a polite conversation with her, shy and actually quite endearing. The next day, when Sakura and Itachi came by the Ninja Academy to fetch Sasuke as part of what was becoming a daily routine, he even included her in conversation and offered to introduce her to his friends.She's observed his happy disposition over the days, and is glad he is starting to warm up to her as well. Sakura had smiled at his offer and agreed eagerly, later basking in her victory to an amused Itachi.

"We might finally start to become friends," she says to the older boy, sitting with him on his family's porch, each with a book in their laps. "He seems like such an interesting person, your little brother, and actually quite sweet I think. It would be a shame not to get to know him."

Itachi smiles at her more easily every day, she thinks. She has noticed he adjusts the way he interacts with people depending on who they are. She likens it to how she talks a certain way to her mother in polite company, or how she talks to her in private. How she interacts with the staff she knows back home, her teachers, or a civilian in her village bowing to her. He seems like such a warm person, to her, and she's enjoying herself as much as she had hoped. This isn't the first time she's been away from home, nor the first time she won't be able to see her mother for weeks. However, it's the first time she's away for so long on her own, and without her mother there. She misses both a little already, though it's just been a few days yet. But with Itachi here, and now Sasuke warming up to her, she is optimistic. Lady Mikoto, or just Mikoto as the Uchiha matriarch insists, is a wonderful host and although Lord Fugaku is intimidating, he is not hostile or disapproving of her being here. Mostly he is polite, a little indifferent though sometimes curious or bemused by her.

"He can be foolish, my little brother, but usually it doesn't take too long for him to catch up," Itachi remarks, turning a page in his book calmly. He told her he is enjoying his time off of work, and she is glad he is here for her. She enjoyed his company that brief week last year, and got to know him even more through letters. It's a childish friendship on her part still, she knows this. He's already in his mid-teens and she's just barely on the cusp of adolescence. She knows she likes him, respects him and admires him. She thinks he's the most beautiful boy she's ever seen, though his little brother is also uncommonly pretty. Being in Itachi's company makes her happy, and excited. She wonders if this is what a crush feels like, but hesitates to call it such. It's too soon, she thinks. They will marry one day, and she wants to be his friend. They'll work together on whatever comes next, and she doesn't really want to think about it now. It's slightly scary, and she doesn't really know what it means.  

"I've been thinking," she says suddenly, a bit shy, interrupting their moment of silence following his comment. Itachi grants her his attention, curious eyes fixed on her face. "I've been thinking about whether I should join the Academy or not. I don't know if I want to be a ninja yet, and I'm not sure if I want to move here permanently just yet either. Would...would it be terribly weird if I waited a few years? I, well, I know how young you were when you graduated, and Sasuke will probably be graduating soon too...I wouldn't stop my training! I still want to become stronger! But, well...what do you think?"

She looks at him nervously, his opinion matters to her. They have a future together, and she's not saying she's averse to joining the ranks or moving here, but it seems pretty intimidating to her now.

"Like Lady Mebuki has said, it is your choice should you become a Leaf ninja or not. I will support whatever decision you make. It's likely two years until Sasuke graduates, and since you've been studying more advanced levels than the Academy offers, as well as having been trained personally by a variety of masters, I'm quite confident you could take the Academy's exams and graduate at any point in time. You needn't enroll, and there is no time limit. Take your time, Sakura," Itachi explains, his voice soft and soothing. His quiet confidence in her makes her breath hitch, and she's feeling dizzy with pride and gratitude.

"Thank you, Itachi," she says quietly, shyly returning to her book. Out of the corner of her eye, he sees him do the same with a small smile. Together, they enjoy the warm summer evening in silence, the sound of the house and the compound a mere background noise by this point. Tomorrow, when they go to fetch Sasuke, she'll get to be introduced to his friends rather than just catching glimpses of them staring at her from afar. Excited, and a little nervous, Sakura smiles to herself. She has two weeks left before she has to leave, and she'll be making the most out of them!