Umeboshi

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The villagers had always warned her to stay away from the strange child that was Uchiha Itachi, but Haruno Sakura wasn't a normal girl to begin with. ItaSaku non-massacre AU.

Chapter One: A Serendipitous Finding

Sakura saw a flash of shadow from the corner of her eye, and shot a kunai with deadly precision towards the rustling bushes. It was unusual for anyone to be around this training ground during this time of the day. It was lunchtime, and the only reason she frequented this training ground was only because she observed that this part of the forest was usually vacant around this time of the day, giving her abundant privacy. She approached the bushes cautiously, and was surprised to see that her kunai did not pierce anything but pinned the wrapping cloth of a bento box to the trunk of a tree. Despite her senses telling her to just leave it alone, in case the owner came back for it, her curiosity won the battle. She pulled on her kunai and cradled the bento box in her arms to take a closer look.

It looked like any ordinary homemade lunch box, wrapped in a dark navy square cloth. There was a knot on the top where the corners of the cloth gathered, which served as a sufficient handle for convenient holding. Placing the bento box on the ground, she untied the knot and spread out the navy cloth. To her surprise, she found little family emblems on the four corners of the square- little prints of white and red fans. Uchiha fans.

Idly tracing her finger around the elegant design, she noticed that there was a shuriken-shaped symbol in the middle of the fan, suggesting that this piece of cloth, along with the bento, belonged to someone in the head family.

Sasuke?

Being one of the only few who knew about Sakura's training ground in the middle of the forest, Sasuke was the first that came into her mind. She wiped her head around to scan the area, and expanded her chakra, hoping to sense any traces of his chakra signature. Unfortunately there was none.

Must have been in a hurry, huh. Inner Sakura supplied, and Sakura nodded as it was a plausible conclusion.

Looking at the bento box, Sakura's hand traced the elegant mahogany colored container. It had a very elegant imprint of cherry blossom flowers on the surface of the lid, and Sakura smiled at the coincidence. Not that she still harbor any feelings for the Uchiha other than familial love, but habits die hard.

As if telling her to make good use of the bento, Sakura's stomach growled, and she realized that she had been too absorbed in her training that she'd forgotten to stop and eat lunch. Tentatively, she lifted the lid and was overwhelmed by the delicious and familiar scent of Mikoto's onigiri. The sides of the triangles were flat because they pressed hard against the sides of container. Other than that, the onigiri looked perfect. She silently thanked god for letting her kunai stop the bento box from crashing to the ground. A drop from the tree tops to the ground would undoubtedly shatter the box and destroy what was now her lunch.

After scanning with her chakra to determine that the onigiri were fresh, She picked one up and took a small bite, closing her eyes to savor the taste. It was just the way she remembered it as Mikoto used to pack the young genin team lunch on their missions. Her bites gradually turned larger and she soon ravenously devoured the entire box of onigiri.

Satiated, she closed the lid and wrapped the cloth back into place. She would wash the box, and return it to Mikoto tonight when she visits for dinner. She gathered her training gears, and started to head home.

—

"Ojamashimasu!" Sakura called out in a sing-song voice as she skipped down the hallway that led from the entrance of the compound to the kitchen, where she was certain Mikoto would be preparing for dinner.

"Fugaku-ji!" she called out as she skipped past the man on the hallway. Fugaku gave a small smile, and nodded to acknowledge her presence. Couple years ago, if someone had told her that one day she would be skipping around the Uchiha compound like she owned it, she would had never believed it. Throughout the years, however, she had grown fond of the Uchiha couple as they had her, and had become a daughter that the couple never had.

Squealing loudly, Sakura skidded past the entrance to the kitchen, and had to hold on to the door frame to completely stop and balance herself. She reemerged through the entrance, one hand behind her head, and gave the stunned female Uchiha a sheepish smile.

"Mou, Sakura-chan, Naruto-kun's habits are rubbing off on you!" The comment drew a even wider smile onto the girl's face.

"Mikoto-ba!" Sakura launched herself at the said woman for a tight embrace. On the side, Sasuke gave a disgusted grunt.

"Sakura, do you have to be so mushy every time you see my mother?" The dark-haired boy commented, only to earn a glare from his teammate.

"Well hello to you too, Mr. Don't-touch-me." She stuck her tongue out at him. "At least I don't take motherly love for granted like you do!"

Wisely, Sasuke did not comment on what she said. He knew that Sakura had lost her mother at a young age, and her father had always opposed of her being a ninja, and thus moved away to a civilian village somewhere else. The poor girl lived alone, and that was why Mikoto took sympathy and invited her frequently to their house.

However strong she might appear to be, Sakura needs her share of love in the world, too. Mikoto had told Sasuke one daya while ago when he inquired why it was that she had taken such fondness of his teammate. Sasuke knew perfectly that it was just an excuse for his exuberant mother to acquire the daughter that she had wanted but never had.

Suddenly remembering about the box that she had found on her training ground earlier of the day, Sakura brought it out of her bag. "Ne, Mikoto-ba, did Sasuke lose his bento today?"

The raven-haired woman looked confused at her question, and shook her head. "Why do you ask?"

"I found this when I was training today." She held out the bento box. "I saw the little shuriken looking symbol in the middle of the fan, and thought it might be Sasuke's."

"Hm, I don't know if he packed lunch today…" Mikoto accepted the bundle and proceeded on placing it on the countertop, opening the cloth.

"Well it doesn't matter, as long as it gets back to you guys."

"Thank you for returning this, Sakura-chan." Mikoto said as she worked on the knot Sakura tied.

"I swear, Mikoto-ba, your onigiri are the most delicious ones in the entire fire country! If only I could cook like that…"

"Oh…" Having to finally open the intricate and tight knot that Sakura made, Mikoto's eyes widen as she immediately recognize the box and knew its owner. So he did pack lunch today. "You've got it wrong, Sakura-chan."

"Aw, don't need to be shy, Mikoto-ba! It's true!" The pink-haired girl exclaimed cheerfully, completely oblivious that Mikoto was talking about something entirely different. "Now my husband has to able to cook like that, since kitchenware and I are mortal enemies."

"Did you hear that, Sasuke-kun? If you don't learn how to cook, Sakura's going to leave you!" Completely forgotten about her previous denial, Mikoto took the chance to push the two teammates together.

"Kaa-san, how many times do I have to tell you Sakura and I are not together!" Sasuke said with a tint of pink across the bridge of his nose.

"Can't blame an old woman for dreaming." Mikoto joked as she went back to her stove. Being culinary-ly challenged, Sakura stood at the sink by the stove to help Mikoto rinse her vegetables. Being too absorbed in their conversation, the trio didn't sense the appearance of the elder brother of the family until he stood behind his mother to give her a peck on the cheeks for acknowledgment.

"Itachi-kun, welcome back." Mikoto welcomed her son by turning around and giving a pat on his head like she would when he was younger and shorter. He frowned.

"Mother, I'm no longer a child."

"You always are to me." Mikoto's sharp eyes scanned her son for any injury, and she frowned when she saw scratches on his arm and cheeks. Her onyx eyes turned serious.

"Mission?"

Itachi shook his head, knowing that his mother was inquiring about the difficulty of the mission. "Stubborn pack of rouge nins." The confident tone of his voice reassured Mikoto that the mission was a success, though at this point she cared more about her son's well-being than whether the mission was successful. She raised a hand cloaked with glowing chakra and was about to start healing her son when Sakura stopped her.

"Mikoto-ba, let me take care of this." Sakura flashed the older woman a smile. "Now I can make myself useful rather than being a hindrance in your kitchen."

"You are never a hindrance, Sakura-chan," the older woman turned towards her stove and proceeded to tend to their dinner. "but thank you."

"No prob." Sakura put down the vegetable in her hand and shut off the water. Seeing that Itachi had made his way towards the dining table and settled down on a seat, Sakura followed him. He was still dressed in his ANBU garb that was, to Sakura's distaste, bloodily stained.

"Itachi-san." She acknowledged politely and sat on the adjacent seat, reaching for his scratched arms. He tensed at her touch, and Sakura cooed, "Relax, I know what I'm doing…" A layer of green chakra cloaked her hand as she pressed it on the scratches, and she jokingly added, "…hopefully."

The reaction was immediate. Itachi extracted his arm from her hold with the speed of light, and eyed her angrily, from what Sakura deduced from the annoyed glint in his eyes. Chuckles bubbled from her lips. "I'm joking, Itachi-san." She took his arm gently and proceeded on healing him again.

"I fail to see how joking about a patient's well-being is funny." He commented and watched her with a careful but intense glare, making sure she wasn't trying anything.

"Itachi-san, relax for a bit. Have some fun." Having done healing the scratches on his arms, she raised her hand to cup his cheek gently to seal the cut across his cheekbone. He grew even more rigid at such intimate touch, if that was even possible, and his eyes darted to the side, finding the floor more interesting than the sea-foam green eyes in front of him. The rest of the healing went by in awkward silence. Half an hour later, after carefully giving Itachi a full-body injury scan, Sakura completed healing everything that needed attention.

"Your assistance is appreciated." The raven-haired man stood up and left. Sakura sighed, and whispered, "You're welcome, Itachi-san."

Even after many years of interaction with the family, Itachi was the only one whom she hadn't been able to get to know and be comfortable around. She thought, even the uptight Fugaku warmed to her, why couldn't it be the same with Itachi? There seemed to be an invisible barrier between them, but it only served to motivate Sakura even more to figure out the mystery named Itachi.

The villagers had always warned her to stay away from the strange child that was Uchiha Itachi, but Haruno Sakura wasn't a normal girl to begin with.

—

The dinner passed by quickly and Sakura bid goodnight to the family, but not before promising Mikoto that she'll visit again soon, Sasuke that she'll spar with him sometime, and Fugaku that she'll go over political reports with him once she had time. After series of hugs, Mikoto finally, though reluctantly, let Sakura leave.

Retreating back to the kitchen, Mikoto went to the sink to do the dishes. Her hand brushed past the mahogany container, and she suddenly remembered what it was the she was telling Sakura before she lost her train of thoughts earlier. She washed and dried the container, and placed the folded square cloth on top of the lid before calling out for her elder son, who sat quietly at the dining table reading a scroll.

"Ne, Itachi-kun," she said while placing the container next to Itachi's scroll. "I heard you lost your bento today."

"Hn." he replied, shifting his gaze from his scroll to the cloth folded on top of the lid.

Aghast and concerned for her child health, she exclaimed, "You didn't eat today?"

"I managed to acquire food in a nearby village during the mission." he replied, soothing her mother's concern, and resumed his attention to the scroll.

"Anyways, Sakura-chan found this at her training ground," Mikoto proceeded to get up from her seat, and walked towards the door. "and she said the onigiri tasted delicious."

"Hn." Itachi replied, not paying particularly much attention to her mother's rambling about the pink-haired kunoichi whom his mother adored.

"…and you know, she said that she wishes her husband will be able to cook like that." Mikoto whispered, halfway through the exiting the kitchen, knowing fully that her son will be able to catch the soft comment.

Itachi's head shot up and his eyes connected with his mother's, a strange glint in his eyes. Mikoto smiled inwardly.

Finally, she thought, glad that there was finally a comment that incited some reaction within her socially stoic son.

…to be continued.

Author's Notes:

1. This story is un-betaed, so sorry that you had to put up with my poor grammar and such. Hee.

2. Regarding the title of this story, Umeboshi, the explanation from Wikipedia says:

Umeboshi (梅干; literally "dried ume") are pickled ume fruits. Ume is a species of fruit-bearing tree in the genus Prunus, which is often called a plum but is actually more closely related to the apricot. Umeboshi are a type of tsukemono, or traditional Japanese pickled food, and are very popular in Japan. In Japan, it is used in various dishes as side dishes with breakfast, rice balls for lunch, boiled and seasoned for dinner.

3. Regarding Itachi's character in this story, I'm trying to portray him as an exceptional perfectionist prodigy who is a social retard. I don't think I'm doing that very well…yet. Still practicing. Hehe.

4. I'm not really sure where I want to take this story yet. I have several chapters in mind, but the more serious parts of the plot still need to be created. Want to help? Always welcome.

5. I think I have something with updating or posting new stories on Valentine's days. Anyway, Happy single awareness day!

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