Declaimer: I own nothing related to Naruto.

Her first thought when she saw Itachi Uchiha for the first time was that he had killer cheekbones and dead eyes.

He wasn't dead, of course; not in the physical sense. But when he walked into the Akatsuki club with cheekbones that could cut butter and eyes as dead as a shark's, Sakura Haruno wondered how he'd taste.

If the impeccable style the man had said anything, she supposed it would be delicious. A silky black shirt, the sleeves rolled up, with the top few buttons open, revealing pale, smooth collarbones; casual slacks that covered a walk that spoke of a rich upbringing and careless confidence; and leather shoes that spoke of the Italians and what she'd bet cost more than the average person would ever willingly pay.

Her second thought was that he was fake. His smoothed back black hair, tied at the nape of his neck in a flawless ponytail, his frowning lips that were far too pretty to be on a man, his aura of not kindness or shyness, but of confidence without the usual egotistical swagger. All a lie. A very deliciously packaged lie, but a lie nonetheless.

She frowned and turned back to the man currently trying to chat her up. Men were just so pushy in any century, Sakura thought. This one had slid right up into the empty seat next to her at the bar not even five minutes after she'd entered, insisting that he pay for her drink. She'd declined as politely as she could but found that his fingers were rather quick for a human. He'd slid his credit card over to the bartender before she'd touched her wallet. She frowned as he shot her a megawatt smile.

He'd said his name was Hidan, if she remembered correctly. He'd insisted on touching her. Nothing overbearing or what could be considered inappropriate, just little swipes of his fingertips against her arm or knee, never going higher. But he made her skin crawl.

When she'd finished her first margarita, he'd insisted they do shots. This time, she played along and flashed him a coy smile and ordered another margarita when the bartender came over before he could even open his mouth. But still he smiled at her.

She indulged him for a few more minutes after she'd seen the well dressed man with the dead eyes come in. Still, he didn't do anything that would outwardly draw attention. Mostly Sakura just wanted to see how many drinks she could get him to pay for.

Licking his lips, Hidan finally asked her if she drove here. She chuckled and said no and he said something about driving her home, not wanting anything to happen to her. And Sakura thought about him being a nice guy who would open doors for her and buy her drinks and his gaze would never stray to her chest.

And then she thought about how he didn't listen to her when she said no to paying for her drinks or not letting her take a taxi home and his hand on her knee and thought about feeding him to the man with the dead eyes.

Sakura smiled and reached out to touch Hidan's arm. His gaze got foggy and he smiled warmly at her. She leaned a tad closer and said something quietly. Hidan nodded, but before he could stand up, the well dressed man with the dead eyes was there. A very quiet kind of smile was on his lips and Sakura's fingers twitched.

"I think the lady wants some space," dead eyes said quietly. He didn't even try to raise his voice over the music and laughing voices, but she could hear him clear as day anyways.

Hidan nodded, still smiling sloppily and left, wiggling his fingers at her as he walked away. Dead eyes watched him, a tilt to his head. Then he blinked and looked back at her, still with that soft smile on his lips.

Sakura wanted to bite those lips.

He gestured to the now empty seat Hidan had vacated and Sakura hesitated, but then nodded, smiling back at him. She wondered if there was anything behind those dead eyes. She'd always found the human ideas about the eyes being the windows to the soul as an interesting one, maybe a little amusing.

"Itachi Uchiha," he said, sliding smoothly into the seat. He held out a hand for her to shake.

"Sakura," she said, shaking his hand. No last name. His skin was warm and inviting. Everything about him was inviting. Everything except, of course, those black eyes, eyes she'd bet most people didn't notice until it was too late.

His smile widened, the change miniscule. Sakura ran her tongue over the top of her teeth.

"He seemed a tad pushy," Itachi parroted her earlier thought back to her. Sakura thought about how easily he must have read her, how he must have been watching her interact with Hidan. She wondered if he'd noticed how she'd watched him back, if that was why he'd chosen her to come over to. With looks like his, finding a very willing and smiling female wouldn't be difficult. Or man, if he so desired.

"He was," she agreed with a low hum. She twirled a long strand of curled pink hair around her finger. "I was just about to get rid of him when you walked over. Very white knight of you, by the way."

She thought there was a speck of amusement in his eyes at that. "He left rather easily," he said, quirking his head at her.

Sakura shrugged and took a sip of her margarita.

Itachi eyed her almost empty glass. "Can I buy you a drink?"

"Hmm. I don't think so." She tipped the glass towards where Hidan had left. "He already bought me two drinks."

"I take it you're not much of a party girl, then?"

"Oh?" she said. "And what would make you think that?"

"Call it intuition."

"Do you usually have good intuition, Itachi?"

His lips quirked up. "Typically, yes."

"Well," she drawled, leaning back in her seat. "I'm not trying to get rip roaring drunk and I'm entirely uninteresting in dancing. So maybe that's what your intuition picked up on."

"You don't like to dance?" Itachi asked, like it was a challenge.

Her eyes gleamed and she let out a low, amused laugh. "Not this kind of dancing."

"Even if I asked you to? I'll promise not to let any guys grope you."

"Any guys except for you, right?"

"Presumptuous," Itachi hummed. "Would you want me to grope you like a horny boy, Sakura?"

This time her smile showed too many teeth. "I'd gut you if you tried," she said with a light voice, just to see how he'd react.

His throat bobbed. "I see. Definitely not a typical party girl, then."

"Oh, I greatly enjoy parties. I could dance for eternity, but this isn't the place for my kind of dancing."

"Let me guess," Itachi said, folding his hands across his lap and crossing his long legs. "Salsa?"

She laughed. "Not quite, though I can do a mean salsa when I need to."

"Ballet?"

"I'm flexible, but no, not really. I like greasy foods far too much."

He wasn't annoyed with her teasing. He wasn't really much of anything, though the amused smile seemed to be permanently stuck on his face. "Are you going to keep me guessing, then?"

"Maybe," she hummed, narrowing her eyes. "But I'm more interested in talking about you."

"Oh?"

"If you try to tell me you're not very interesting, I'll call bullshit."

He chuckled. "I wouldn't dare." He leaned forward. "Well, I'm a normal businessman. I work for my family's company."

"What does your company do?"

"We're invested in many organizations."

Her smile widened. "You know, if your family is involved in the mafia, you could have come up with a better lie."

He laughed at that. Sakura couldn't tell if it was completely fake. "We deal with electronics, medical research, mostly show our faces at fundraisers and board meetings where we hold management chairs, that kind of thing. It's all very boring."

"Don't you enjoy the chance to outwit other men and women in word games, Itachi?" she said softly.

He licked his lips. "Now, Sakura, that would be morally wrong of me."

She scoffed. "That's not really an answer, but okay. We don't have to talk about your work."

Itachi waved down the bartender and ordered himself a drink and gestured to her now empty margarita. When she shook her head, he didn't push it.

"What do you do, Sakura?" he asked after he'd taken a sip of his rather boring looking drink. She'd always preferred sweeter and colorful things. Two things the man in front of her was not.

"I work for the mafia," she deadpanned.

This time when he laughed, she could tell he meant it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

They talked. They threw barbs at each other. Sakura let out her sarcasm to its full effect and all Itachi did was smile and look more than a little amused at her. She wasn't sure if she was insulted that nothing she was saying was getting him to react or flattered that he found her interesting enough to stay seated with her and not go find easier prey, even when she made it clear she wasn't going home with him.

It was growing late and finally Sakura excused herself, saying something about getting up early tomorrow. Itachi rose with her and held out a hand. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Sakura."

One pink eyebrow rose. "You too, Itachi. You've a very peculiar man."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Shall I wave down a taxi for you?"

"I've already called an Uber."

He licked his lips. "I never saw you on your phone."

"Now, it would be rude of me to be on my phone when I'm having such a lovely conversation."

"Just so long as I don't notice," he mused.

She smiled widely. "Exactly."

"I believe this is the part where I ask for your number."

She passed him the napkin her drink had come on. He chuckled and said, "You're making me feel quite foolish, Sakura. Not noticing you on your phone is one thing, not noticing you get a pen and write your number is another."

Her smile turned coy. "Perhaps I just distracted you with my glamour."

His mouth parted, and even though she knew the club was far too dark and his eyes even blacker, she could have sworn she saw his eyes dilate. She did have rather good eyesight, after all.

"You grow more intriguing the longer I'm in your presence, Sakura," he purred.

Not once that evening had he touched her. Not a slip of the hand on her palms when she set them on the table, not a ghosting of his fingers when she handed him the napkin with a fake phone number written on it.

She licked her lips and eyed his parted lips. "Have to keep you interested, don't I? Otherwise, what's the point?"

She saw his nostrils flare. "What a blunt thing to say," Itachi said softly.

She gave him a closed lipped smile. "I'll take my leave, then."

And she turned and left Itachi standing there. She could feel his dead eyes bore into her back on the way out. And while it didn't feel crude, it still made her skin crawl in a way that was different to how Hidan's eyes had made her feel.

Itachi Uchiha was an interesting human.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

She only had to wait another half hour before she heard a thump in the alley behind the club. Sakura leaned up against the brick wall, invisible to the world and stared up at the sky. There were too many lights in this bustling city to see any stars, and a plane flew overhead, it's flashing light drawing her eyes.

She breathed out and a puff of warm air was visible in the cold air. Sakura hated the cold. She could bundle up in her warmest sweaters and expensive jackets and silk scarves and still feel the impact of these winters. She missed the warmth of home. She missed the eternally alive and flourishing flowers there, the wildness of the animals. She, quite simply, ached for home.

When there was the sound of a body being thrown into what she supposed would be the metal dumpster behind the club, Sakura sighed and walked around the corner. She was greeted with blood spattered on the filthy brick walls and hand streaks on the ground and around the dumpster Hidan was slumped against. He was muttering a very long and creative stream of curse words. Her eyebrows rose at some of the phrases he uttered.

Itachi Uchiha was, of course, holding a rather long and expensive looking knife and was kneeling down in front of Hidan. He was humming something under his breath, something that was likely from a play or a Russian orchestra. The clothes Sakura had been admiring only a few hours ago were spattered with blood and there was a smear down his cheek and across his mouth.

He reached down and tilted Hidan's head to look at him. Into his dead eyes, Sakura thought. Hidan opened his mouth to no doubt curse at him and instead was greeted with a knife being sliced across his throat.

Itachi stepped back before his clothes could get too much of the blood on them. Sakura had to give Hidan credit—even with blood sputtering out of him in a steady stream, he kept eye-contact with Itachi, loathing and fury clear as day.

He died pissed off, and Itachi was just staring at him, even when he stopped twitching and sat, slumped there. Sakura licked her lips and watched as Itachi tilted his head, chest heaving from the tussle that had ensued before she'd gotten to the alley.

His eyes were still dead.

Eventually, he looked down at his clothes and sighed heavily. "Pity," he muttered to himself. "It was such a nice shirt."

Sakura took that moment to reveal herself, dropping her glamour. "You've made quite the mess," she mussed, more than a little amused and impressed when a smaller knife Itachi had been concealing was immediately thrown at her head. Sakura laughed and easily stepped to the side.

She turned to see it clink off the brick wall, harmless. She swirled her hand and made the wind carry it back to her, coming to rest in her palm. She turned back to Itachi with a smirk and began to twirl it around.

"Should I be insulted or flattered you threw a knife at my head? Do all the girls you chat up get the same treatment or are you more inclined to save this honor for men?" She chewed her lip thoughtfully and ignored how his dead eyes bore into her. She could practically feel his mind whirling, a slight moment of irritation flashing across his face at not noticing her sooner. "Do you have a type or is it more luck of the draw?"

"Sakura," he said, his voice like smooth chocolate. "How . . . unexpected."

"I suppose being caught murdering a random man tends to be rather unexpected, yes."

"Not just any man," he mused, hands pushed into the pockets of his pants, the larger knife he'd used to kill Hidan hidden from sight. Sakura internally purred at how he was trying to make her think the only knife he had was the only currently being twirled in her hand. Silly man. "I believe he was the scum who was politely trying to manhandle you into bed. But that is moot. I'm more interested in talking about how you managed to sneak up on me. And how you made my knife fly to your hand."

He gave her a charming smile that did nothing to erase the blood on his lips.

Sakura hummed thoughtfully and looked towards the sky again. Maybe she should go somewhere warmer soon. Somewhere she could actually see the stars. She missed naming them. "And what is it you think you saw, Itachi?" She balanced the very sharp point of the knife on her index finger, watching the handle wobble.

He licked his lips, smearing the blood there. "I think you're more than you appear, Sakura."

"You flatter me."

He took slow steps towards her until he was not even a foot away. When she didn't move back or tense, Itachi narrowed his eyes. "You're not nervous?"

"Why would I be?"

"As you've pointed out, you just witnessed me killing a man. That does tend to make other people nervous, I've found."

"You think yourself very good at reading other people, don't you?" she asked softly, making eye-contact with him. She let even more of her glamour drop, not only letting this human see her but letting a taste of her heritage peak out. She saw his eyes dilate. "You think you can pick out easy prey in a crowd, can tell who would be easy to manipulate and bend to your will. Tell me, Itachi—" Sakura closed that last foot of distance between them, hovering chest to chest with him, a whisper of space between them. "—did you find me to be easily manipulated?"

His throat bobbed. "I found you interesting. You are becoming even more so the longer I'm in your presence." His eyes moved to the knife she was still spinning around in her palm. "Are you going to use that or may I have it back?"

"What, the knife behind your back isn't good enough?"

His lips curled at the edges. "It would be rude to have it so out in the open."

"Better hidden until used, is that it?"

He chuckled and said, "Exactly."

Sakura hummed and went to stand on her toes. "What's it like to kill someone, Itachi?"

His mouth parted and Sakura caught a glimpse of a pink tongue that darted out to lick at the blood on his mouth. One hand came up to grip her waist—the first time that night he'd laid a hand on her.

"I wish I could show you," he purred. His eyes were wide and dilated. "You might love it."

She pushed the knife at his chest, the metal tip resting just above his stomach. She didn't push it any further, didn't put any more force to draw blood. If she was going to hurt him, she sure as hell didn't need a human weapon to do it.

Sakura balanced it there and softly said, her words a drawl, "What makes you think I haven't already?" Releasing her grip on the knife, she watched Itachi's hand come up out of reflex to catch it before it clattered to the ground.

When he stood all the way back up, Sakura was gone, disappearing into thin air.

A large grin stretched across his face. He brought his thumb up and swiped it across his lips, catching the last bit of blood and smearing it further across his mouth and down his chin. He wondered how quickly he could find her again.

Author's Note: Happy New Years, guys! Consider this as my present to you all for the amazing responses I've gotten for The Soulmate Principle. Most of you really seemed to like the idea of a sociopath!Itachi and a faerie!Sakura, so here ya go. Enjoy.

This isn't going to be a very in-depth story, just a lot of banter between sociopath!Itachi and more-than-a-little-amused-at-the-human faerie!Sakura. This is going to be kinda dark, just because Itachi will kill people. I'm not going to make it especially gory, but it will be present. Sakura's not exactly any innocent, either. ;P

Please REVIEW and tell me what you think! As always, I love hearing what you guys want to see happen and where you think this story is going. (Y'all know I don't really plan out any of my stories, only that I have vague ideas on how it'll proceed.)