Chapter 4

Sakura took a deep breath.

On her right, Naruto stood proudly with his golden hair swinging softly with the breeze. His eyes were shining and as he noticed her stare on him, he offered her his trademark foxy grin.

She couldn't help but smiling back.

On her left, Sasuke stood not as brooding as always. His countenance looked rigid but the slight shimmering of his eyes told her he was reasonably happy. His head shortly turned to the side to meet her gaze and all he could offer was a shy, almost imperceptible tug at the corner of his mouth. That was smile enough for her and she grinned at her friend's cold antics.

The deaf sound of the cheering of the crowd was adrenalininc enough, and she glanced at the happy audience gathered in the main Suna stadium. She released her breath as her gaze finally settled at the front where the Kages and teachers were sitting.

There, on a dark corner, almost hidden from common view, an onyx pair of eyes looked at her intently.

Sakura smiled at the older Uchiha and unlike his brother, his smirk although small, was more easily given.

They had made it.

They were finally Jounin together.

A few days later, back in the gentler heat of Konoha, Sakura wondered why she had thought that two weeks off had first sounded like such a good idea.

Her elbows were lazily leaning on the fence of her balcony as she looked down at the busy street. She had completely recovered from her training and the strain of the exams, and now, in perfect shape and fully charged of stamina and chakra, she failed to think of what to do with so much free time.

"Sakura chan!", a loud voice called her from the street and her spirits were instantly lifted as she looked at the energetic figure of Naruto.

It turned out that she wasn't the only bored one, as it was soon stated by her very loud friend and even Sasuke had his own complaints. As they strolled down the street planning something fun to do, they walked in front of a greengrocery and Sakura had an idea.

"Watermelons?", Naruto seemed a bit skeptical at first, but when the shopkeeper gave them a sample slide of the fruit, he couldn't agree more.

"Ah, there's a place I wanted to go", Sasuke offered and it immediately caught their attention.

They walked through the forest southwards from the Uchiha district and passed by their training grounds. Sakura felt her heart skip a beat when they noticed Itachi was there, and it wasn't like she didn't want to spend time with him, but for some reason she felt extremely embarrassed when Naruto called out to him and invited him to spend the afternoon with them.

Against all odds, he agreed and a few kilometres later they arrived to a beautiful waterfall somewhat hidden in the thick forest.

Naruto dropped the watermelons and ran happily to a tall rock.

"Come here Sasuke! let's make a jumping competition!", he said while stripping himself off his clothes. The brooding Uchiha followed him with less enthusiasm but joined his friend nonetheless.

"These boys…", she sighed with a warm smile as she walked to the side of the pond to dip her legs on the cool water.

Her gaze softened as she looked at her teammates play like children in the water, and a sudden happiness filled her chest.

She was so focused on them that she nearly missed the piece of watermelon being offered to her from the side. She followed the arm that held it and found herself staring at Itachi's face.

Way too close for her comfort.

"Thank you", she accepted the fruit and timidly started eating it as the black haired man sat by her side.

They silently observed the young shinobi engage in a 'friendly' spar in the water, occasionally laughing at their strange sense of friendship and Sakura knew she would have to heal them afterwards.

She glanced at man sitting by her side, a slight anxiousness blooming after realising they were somewhat alone.

"You're not getting into the water?", Sakura asked curious.

"Mmm", he muttered softly. "Maybe I will", he finished without looking at her.

"What about you?", he met her gaze and she suppressed a blush.

She tried at least.

"I didn't come prepared", she looked at her clothes. The truth was that she was dying to get into the water. It looked so cool and refreshing and if Itachi wasn't there with them, she would have stripped off her clothes just like Naruto had done and would've jumped into the pond without a care in the world.

She glanced at him again.

The idea of dipping into the water with nothing but her underwear in front of this man was unbearable.

He didn't say anything, maybe knowing what she was thinking.

Why was she so embarrassed when he was around?

He released a long sigh.

"It's quite hot today", he said while suddenly standing up. The movement caught her by surprise, and it was already too late to look away when his shirt started rolling up his torso and she was left staring at his nude upper body. He completely took it off and his pants followed soon after and in a blink of an eye, clad in nothing but his boxers, he was in the water, his long hair floating around his shoulders as he moved forward to where Naruto and Sasuke were sparring.

Sakura gulped.

Now the air felt certainly warmer.

'Get a hold of yourself Sakura!', he was just a man, she had seen plenty in her career as a shinobi.

'Certainly none like him', inner Sakura offered and she instantly blushed.

"Sakura chan! come into the water with us", Naruto called her with an exaggerated waving and she just smiled while shaking her head.

She missed the knowing looks he exchanged with Sasuke.

A few minutes passed and without knowing what was going on, she suddenly found herself being pulled into the water.

She emerged with a loud gasp and a few surprised coughs as she frantically searched around her for the culprits. Her teammates were at a safe distance from her and she yelled both their names.

Stupid friends of her.

She caught a glance of their amused faces before surrendering to laughter.

"Are you alright?", Itachi was floating a few feet away from her. The amused smile on his face looked somewhat odd on his usually blank expression, but Sakura thought it couldn't be more settling.

She feigned indignation.

"Not thanks to you!", she turned her head offended but the smile was stubbornly cracking her self imposed mask.

Itachi laughed.

It was soft and short, but it made her flip her head in astonishment to get a proper look of this weird display of emotions.

It was a sight that she knew would be forever burnt into her mind.

Summer was relentless, and it felt somehow worst when they had no missions to do. It was the last weekend of their free weeks and without even asking, Sakura and Naruto had popped by Sasuke's house to spend the afternoon. In the end they had lazily laid on the deck of the backyard, protected under the shade that the roof and the trees provided.

Sakura didn't realise she had fallen asleep until she was woken up by the sound of steps approaching her on the wooden floor. She was on her side laying on the floor and facing the garden, feeling her body tired and heavy from the heat.

"Naruto… why don't you bring me something fresh?", she said without turning around. "…Too hot", she muttered while rubbing her eyes and lifting herself to a sitting position.

"What would you like?", Itachi's voice sounded from behind, startling her. She quickly turned around to look at him.

"Sorry! I thought it was Naruto…", she said with a nervous giggle before looking around suspicious.

"Where are they?", she asked after a while.

"He and Sasuke left a while ago", he said plainly as he seated crossed legged next to her.

"Left? Where to?"

"To buy ice cream"

She stared at him for a few seconds before laughing softly.

"What…? Are they kids?", the pinkette commented in a good mood. She fanned herself with her hand, trying desperately to get some fresh air.

Suddenly, the black haired man stood up without saying a word and walked inside the house.

'What? did I say something wrong?', she looked nervously at the garden, wondering if he became upset or something.

It was kind of frustrating, she thought. She never knew what to expect from him.

She had already acknowledged her love and accepted the fact that it would be forever one-sided, and she didn't care that much, considering the years she spent in the same situation with his brother, but still, a part of her wanted to share with him, spend more time, get to know him better.

'As if that would happen', she thought bitterly.

The image of Ino's annoyed face came into her mind.

'Nothing will even change if you don't do something about it', she remembered her words a few days ago when Sakura had involuntarily given away the information of her current love interest.

'There is nothing to do, he's Uchiha Itachi after all…', she had said gloomy and almost jumped when she received a painful knock on her head.

'Stupid Sakura! give yourself some more credit! and you talk about him like he's some sort of god! I mean, he is amazing and all but in the end… he's just a man"

Sakura sighed as she observed the bamboo fountain being filled with water and then falling on top of a small rock with a dry sound.

'He's just a man… right?'

"Here"

Suddenly, a pink snow cone blocked her range of vision.

She lifted her head to the side to look at Itachi with questioning eyes.

"You said you wanted something fresh", he answered her unsaid question as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Her eyes traveled from the cone to his face repeatedly until her brain caught what he had just said.

"Th- thank you…", her voice was shaky as she took the snow cone and quickly turned around to hide her blushing face from him.

It was a home made strawberry snow cone.

"You didn't have to…", she said shyly as she stared at the pink ball of ice. Ironically, her chest started feeling much warmer.

"Hn", he simply muttered and she decided to try the snow cone.

"Mmm!, it's so good!", she exclaimed as the ice melted in her mouth. "So refreshing!", it was exactly what she wanted.

"Try some, it's really good", she offered him.

He looked at her hands for a few seconds before nodding.

"Just a little", he said and slightly leaned to her, his head sticking out.

Sakura looked at him a few seconds before she understood the situation.

He wanted her to feed him.

Oh dear.

She knew she was blushing, and she knew he noticed it as he was staring amusedly straight at her.

Awkwardly, she took a spoon of ice and very very slowly approached it to his mouth.

She gulped.

Did it suddenly get hotter?

She was sweating like mad.

His lips parted just enough to let the spoon in and she saw the melting ice disappear behind his now closed mouth.

She gulped again.

He smiled.

"It's good", he muttered as he returned to his original seating position next to her as if nothing had happened.

She just wanted to jump into the pond to cool down her burning face.

A nervous giggle escaped her as she hastily took several spoons of ice in an attempt to cover her embarrassment and just as the spoon left her mouth, she gasped, realising what she had done.

'Indirect… kiss', she panicked.

A small, less prude part of her mind reminded her she wasn't twelve anymore and it was just ludicrous that she would be embarrassed over such a petty thing, but she froze nonetheless.

"Is something wrong?", Itachi asked curious and she stiffly shook her head, before a nervous laughing fit took hold of her.

"No! Hahaha! nothing! it's… Hahaha, so hot today, isn't it", in her mind, she swore she was acting normal.

Sadly, it was quite the contrary.

"Ah! I know what you were thinking", he suddenly said and she froze once again, her eyes wide as she stared at him.

The mischievous expression on his face didn't really help her nervousness.

"Indirect… kiss", he almost whispered, more than amused and her blood went cold.

"Nooo!", yes, the nervous giggles and incoherent phrases didn't stop.

"Would it be better if it was direct?", he said as he slowly seated himself closer to her and leaned to her face. Sakura stared at him, impossibly flushed.

"Eh…?"

"…A kiss", he whispered as he shortened the distance between them.

His face was inches away from hers and his eyes were narrowed, fixed on her parted lips.

Her breath got caught in her throat.

'Thump thump'

She felt her heart would beat its way out of her ears.

'No… way….'

He smirked.

A very devious, sadistic, Sasuke-like smirk.

"I was joking", he said before moving away to his original position.

She could do nothing but stare, wide eyed and gaping like a fish out of water.

"Sakura chan! are you awake now?", Naruto yelled from inside the house.

The kunoichi suddenly was pulled form her shock and without really processing anything she awkwardly stood up and stumbled her way into the house to receive the loud blonde.

"Na- Naruto! You went away!"

"Sakura, are you ok?", Sasuke commented as he entered the room with a plastic bag on his hand.

"Eh?"

"Your face is all red", he pointed out and she pressed her palms against her cheeks.

"Ah! yeah, it's just so hot today!", she said in a high pitch. "I'm… going…. to the bathroom", she mumbled before disappearing into the hallway in clumsy quick steps.

As she reached the toilet and closed the door behind her, she stared at her reflection on the mirror.

The image of Itachi's face so close to hers suddenly invaded her mind.

He had been so close that she had felt the warmth of his skin against her own skin and his soft breath fanning over her cheeks.

She could still feel his scent.

She leaned against the wall and let her body fall until her bottom reached the cool floor.

At least there was something cool in the room now.

A/N: Steamy! Thank you shoujo mangas for the inspiration!

Loved your reviews! xxx