Itachi All Mighty

NI

Standing - no, sitting in the middle of large tradition Japanese room, Sakura glanced around with awe. Despite her arms being bound to her sides, she was the epitome of calm and in fact marveled at the katana collection in a glass case on one side of the room and the distinct designs on the ebony table in front of her.

Behind her stood Deidara and a red-haired man she'd never met before. She most certainly recognized that blonde, Deidara, from somewhere. But...where?

("Oh you must be an American model? Or at least a model from the TV?"

"Uh, no. We met just this morning."

"What? No way! I would've remember meeting such a handsome model like you!"

– was how their conversation went.)

"There's something seriously wrong with this girl," Deidara muttered to Sasori.

She was way too calm for him to not be wary of her. Did she not just know what happened to her? It was nearly eleven at night and she sat perfectly content, without struggling at all. Granted it would be easier for Itachi to talk to her with her not jumping to conclusions or on the verge of tears from fear, but still.

How was that any fun?

"Haruno Sakura," said Itachi when he entered the room finally.

"Oh!" The pinkette said, piping up. "That's me!"

"My name is Uchiha Itachi and at the moment we are inside my home-"

"Yes, you have a very lovely home!"

He faltered. "Er...yes, thank you."

Her lips curled into a small gentle smile and he swore he felt like he'd just been shot. His heart rate spiked unnaturally high and he could feel his hands growing clammy. What the hell was wrong with him? He was supposed to be a perfectly healthy man! He was showing symptoms of heart attack. Kami, he was only twenty-four years old.

"Say, have we met before, pretty lady?"

Itachi's eye twitched. He wasn't sure what got him the most - the fact she didn't remember him or the fact that she called him a lady. Again. And didn't realise that he was the same "pretty lady" from earlier in the day. Should he also find some type of insult beneath the meaning of the "pretty lady" she seemed to hand out so easily without memorising the face of whom she says it to?

"I assure you I am no lady," he informed her through gritted teeth.

"Ehhh? No way."

Was it the hair? Itachi tentatively touched the long threads that framed his face. Everyone swore that it made him look manly! He was manly, wasn't he? Surely an entire clan of men and followers hadn't lied to him only for a mere girl to tell him the opposite?

Itachi huffed and let it go. What was he getting so worked up over anyway?

He sat on folded knees politely with his two hands on his thighs and breathed a levelled sigh.

"Haruno Sakura, it has taken me many hours to find you. You, without needing to, saved mine – no. All of our lives. If it weren't for you, who knows who might not have made it to this point," he announced with his chest puffed out. He looked very tough and masculine, very worthy of his yakuza title – honest.

During the day, Itachi had his family's private investigators find whatever they could on Sakura. He discovered everything from all the medals she'd won in sprinting, high jump, long jump and judo her entire school life to the university she now studied at.