Rain, Rain, Don't Go Away

Sometimes, all we need is a kindred spirit. ItaSaku drabble series. AU.

Characters/Pairing: Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Itachi

Genre: Romance

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Drabble series title is borrowed from the song "Rain," by Priscilla Ahn.

Title: Water Droplets, part I

Author: bleu-bella

Word Count: 487

Created: April 6th, 2009

Completed: April 8th, 2009

Updated: January 8th, 2011

Author's Note: These stories evolved in to more than just drabbles, but not into a full-fledged story. A relatively coherent plotline is present, though. The original content has been edited for future flow.

Sakura liked the rain.

The feeling of cool water running over her collar bones, shoulders, arms, wrists, hands; water droplets collecting on her eyelashes and lips, rolling down her cheeks. Clothes becoming soaked through and adhering to her skin. Curiously pink hair sticking to her forehead and neck, the soaked ends barely touching her shoulders (too long, she'll have to cut it again).

And the best place to enjoy rain showers, she discovered, was sitting on the roof of her house. There was just enough water reaching her through the branches of a maple tree in the side yard to keep her both hidden and satisfied.

And, as a bonus, Sakura could see between the maple's branches and into her neighbors' fenced-off property.

Said neighbors had been an object of curiosity to Sakura since the completion of her family's move a month ago. The police chief father and socialite mother were seldom seen by the green-eyed girl from her perch (and an excellent perch it was: the roof's architecture, combined with the thick and leafy maple tree branches, provided first-rate shadowing to keep her unseen).

The only Uchiha - for that was their family name - she saw with any regularity was a boy about her age: out-of-control black hair, athletic build, and from what she could see, very attractive features- enough to make any girl blush as she did when seeing him. He often sat on the covered wooden porch to read.

On one particular rainy day, however, he was nowhere to be seen. In his place was another boy, perhaps six or seven years older, stretched out on the porch floor, arms supporting his upper body.

Dark clothes, dark hair, pale skin. The rest of him was too hazy through the rainfall.

The next time it rained, he was on the porch again. Intent on observing, Sakura crawled out of her bedroom window and on to the perch as quietly as she could to get a better look.

He had long, shiny black hair (she could see how long it was now that it was down; last time he had worn it tied back, she supposed), long defined limbs, long pale fingers spread over the dark wood. She looked down at her own long fingers; "spider fingers" as Ino called them.

She could see him better this time. The rain wasn't as heavy as before, she thought.

His features were just as aristocratic as the other Uchiha's (his brother, maybe?). Straight nose, high cheekbones, a defined jaw.

He looked up at her - no, in her direction, she assured herself. It was dark where she sat, not to mention mostly obscured by the tree branches.

Sakura shivered as he continued to stare through the branches to where she hid. She pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her pink hair.

He smirked, causing a furious blush to cover her cheeks.

Her curiosity was definitely piqued.