Hey! Here with a quick, fun little 2-shot like I promised, hope you guys enjoy ~ I had a lot of fun writing this one up, and I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it ^.^

Dislcaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form

Chapter 1.

Sakura found herself laughing hysterically, pausing only for the slightest of seconds to question why exactly she was laughing. Finding she had no real answer, she decided that it didn't matter, opting instead to laugh some more rather than worry about what it is she was laughing about.

This will be fun! Ino had assured her that a couple of drinks wouldn't hurt.

I have a mission tomorrow morning Ino-pig. Like the good little shinobi that Sakura was, she was very reluctant to accept Ino's offer.

It's not a mission, Ino had given her a pointed look.

It's my first look at my new ANBU team, Sakura had been quick to retort back. I don't want to show up with a hangover, I don't even know who they are. What kind of impression would I make if I show up with a hang over?

It won't be a hangover, relax.

Oh, but it was definitely going to be a hang over, because although true to her word, a couple of drinks wouldn't hurt, Ino had only taken into account a couple of drinks -not the ten to fifteen or so shots that they had downed in the past hour. After having bailed out of the bar (or having actually gotten kicked out, for that matter), Sakura and Ino found themselves walking around aimlessly at one of the local parks found about a ten minutes walk from the bar. It was dark, pitch black at that, aside from the few street lights that lit the pathways, and a few vending machines here or there. It was practically empty aside from a few people passing by every now and then, making their way home from the same bar Sakura and Ino had just gotten kicked out from. Frankly, the last, tiny sober part in Sakura's brain couldn't help but be grateful for this lack of people, for she didn't know what she would do if somebody caught her, drunk to the bone, at a children's park, no less.

As they were walking, partially leaning on each other in fear of falling on their stilettos if they dared walk by themselves, Ino decided to speak. "Hey Sakura," she took a swig of the last bottle of sake she currently had (which she had gotten from one of the males back at the bar with a little flirting), "let's play a game." Sakura was vaguely reminiscent that the last time Ino had said that very same phrase, under somewhat similar circumstances, meaning they were both drunk as hell and alone, she had ended up at the roof of the hospital, with hardly any clothing on, at the busiest times of the day. Something she didn't particularly want to repeat.

"No thanks Ino," she paused as she hiccuped, "I think I'll pass this time."

"Oh come on! Stop being such a wuss, live a little!" she proclaimed loudly, taking another swig of the sake bottle.

Sakura was desperately trying to ignore the pounding in her head as Ino spoke, not entirely sure if that was her inner Sakura telling her it was a bad idea to listen to Ino, or if it was just the headache that came along with being drunk. "I'm already wasted." she refuted.

"No" Ino shook her head vigorously, almost as if the alcohol had left her incapable of stopping her shake, "If you were utterly wasted like you're proclaiming, you wouldn't think about the outcome of this game. It's an innocent little game, I promise. There will absolutely be no shedding of clothing involved, pinky promise." she held out her pinky childishly, although to her it was an oath that should never be taken lightly.

Sakura eyed her with as much of a scrutinizing gaze as she could muster, which wasn't much, so it ended up looking as if she were constipated. Unfortunately, Ino was giving her the puppy dog eyes, something even Sakura was powerless against. With enough time, it finally tore down all reservations Sakura had about this little game of Ino's, especially because she was sure she looked retarded and she preferred not to look as such. "Give me that." she snatched the sake bottle from Ino, taking a giant swig (much to Ino's enthusiasm as she "Woo'ed!" loudly), and then shivered as the numbing pain in her head slowly went away. "Alright, what's this game of yours?"

Ino grinned in satisfaction, happy that she got her way. Then again, she usually did with Sakura, with enough pushing.

"Well..."

"Penis" it started out as a simple whisper, Sakura wasn't even sure that she had heard right in the first place, but knowing the rules of the game, she continued nonetheless.

She responded, albeit a wee bit louder than Ino had, but still nothing more than a whisper, barely audible if you weren't standing a foot away. "Penis"

"Penis" Ino giggled, this time speaking at a rather average tone.

"Penis!" Sakura let out a laugh in response, imitating Ino's small giggle. How was this a game? She wasn't sure, but if there was one thing she knew for certain, it was that this "game", although stupidly irrational and embarrassing, while drunk, served to be a highly amusing and fun activity. It kind of made Sakura want to say "What the hell", ignore all her moral and civic duties as a kunoichi of the proud Leaf, and just run around the village flashing random civilians all the while shouting out "BOOBIES!" and laughing hysterically.

But all that was just Giddy Sakura on way too much sake for her own good. True, she needed to let loose a little and have fun, something to keep her mind off of the hospital and stop her from asking "Is putting fifteen hours in the hospital good enough? Oh no, I better go check in for some more...", until she was there for practically twenty hours (it had happened often enough to become a normal occurrence) and end up being mentally, as well as physically, exhausted.

This had been, mainly, why Ino had suggested they go out and relax for once, perhaps landing themselves in a bar for a few shots of tequila or sake, because it had been ages since Sakura had relaxed and god damn it, Ino missed her best friend. The hospital was a hectic place, Ino knew, especially with the Akatsuki and Sound practically breathing down their necks, and Sakura always ended up feeling guilty if she didn't spend all of her time and energy helping and saving people she knew she could. That is why Tsunade had personally made Sakura take a break today, designating Ino as her baby sitter, and why she was being assigned to an ANBU team as their medic instead of being holed up in the hospital any longer: the hospital would no longer do Sakura any good, and even being on missions would be much less demanding on Sakura's mind and body than the hospital. After all, healing three people for a few days was nothing compared to healing a hundred a day, every day.

"Penis!" Ino had now resorted to a somewhat loud shriek.

"Penis!" Sakura shouted, laughing all the while, and in between her proclamations of girths and male anatomies, taking swigs of more alcohol.

"PENIS!"

"PENIS!"

"Who's our new medic, Itachi?"

Itachi glanced at his elder cousin as he spoke for a fraction of a second. "As I have already informed the team, I am not to introduce her to you until tomorrow morning." Itachi brushed his cousin's comment aside fairly easily.

"Oh, but come on Itachi! I'm your cousin! It won't kill you to tell me! It's not like Genma cares, regardless." Shisui whined childishly, almost as if truly believing that if he pouted long enough that Itachi would give in to his demands.

Itachi didn't respond to his cousin's idiotic antics, opting instead to look straight ahead as they maneuvered their way back to the Uchiha Compound.

"At least tell me if she's hot!" Shisui complained. "No matter how hot Hana is, there's just no... no..." He couldn't find the right words as he spoke, recalling a former member of theirs, who they would go on missions often enough as a substitute for Genma when he was away or busy with other things.

"She's not fooled by your incompetent attempts to get her in bed?" He was blunt and straight to the point with his answer, almost amused by how Shisui seemed taken aback by his words, as if it were preposterous or something.

"No, she's just savage!" Shisui shivered. Hana was Hana... 'nuff said there. She was ferocious, scary when angry, and was too much to handle -definitely not a girlfriend Shisui would want to get mad, which would most likely be all the time, knowing how much of a goofball he was. "But anyway, enough about Hana, please Itachi! From one loving cousin to the other, please." Shisui begged, emphasizing his last please as if he were living off of Itachi's answer.

"Loving?" Itachi raised an eyebrow, glancing at Shisui.

"Okay, now that's just hurtful Itachi." Shisui frowned, his facial expressions completely changing into one of genuine hurt. Itachi merely smirked, not at all concerned with his cousin's antics, knowing he was just messing around, and decided to instead focus on the road that lay ahead of them.

They had just come back from a mission debriefing, and were walking back to the Uchiha Compound, taking a shortcut through a secluded children's park, usually deserted at these late hours of the night. It was their duty to inform the rest of the team tomorrow (Genma and Hana whenever they were assigned a mission with her again), along with the new medic that would be introduced to them, about their new team procedures, seeing as Team One had never actually formally received a medic, having no need for one up until now, and even then it wasn't needed, it was just a precaution Tsunade-sama was taking due to the growing tensions between Sound and Leaf. Of course, him, being Team Captain, was the only one who knew who the medic was -he had specifically sought her out, hearing that she was one of the best medics on and off the field. Being Team One, he had first dibs on any of the medics that were now assigned to field work, and he picked her up before Tsunade could even inquire if he had any ideas of who he wanted. He didn't know much about her, except for the fact that she was his younger brother's teammate, a diligent worker, always giving it her all, and packing quite a punch on top of that. They had conversed on a few occasions, she having dined often in the Uchiha household, and on top of that seeing her from time to time up and about around the village. She seemed like a respectable young kunouchi and-

"PENIS!" The sudden shriek made him snap out of his thoughts. From alongside him, Shisui couldn't help but snicker at the sudden shriek, wondering if perhaps somebody was doing a little show-and-tell this late at night. Frankly, he didn't know what to think of this, but he was sure, what with Itachi's character, that he was soon to find out.

"PENIS!" It was another person's voice this time, another female, and the shriek had been louder than before.

"PENIS!" It was to the point where it was nearly deafening, as they grew closer and closer to the location of the two females. He narrowed his eyes. The police force side of him could not let him just walk away from this. It was immoral, idiotic, and in a public area. He was sure he could at least scare the couple of idiotic girls by threatening to charge them with unreasonable or loud noise in a public area, during the late, late hours of the night (it was sometime past midnight already). Especially because they, whoever they were, were saying such vulgar words in a children's park of all places! That was simply not done, even if it was way past children hours and everyone was probably already home by now.

"Come on." Itachi merely muttered as he set off towards the direction of the "penis" sounds.

"Oh, just let them be. They're just having a little fun Itachi." Not that Shisui could understand why exactly shouting "penis" over and over again was that amusing to begin with, but whatever. Girls would be girls, he wasn't about to try to understand them now when he had tried most of his teenage years to do so, and still failed, might I add.

Itachi ignored him, rounding a corner to find-

No. Way.

There she was, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes, Miss I-work-my-ass-off-every-day, Miss I-am-joining-one-of-the-very-best-ANBU-teams-tomorrow-morning.
And most importantly, there she was, the medic-nin he had sought after and went out of his way to obtain, intoxicated to the bone in clothes he'd rather not see her in.

This would so not look good on her record. And to think him of all people, her soon to be ANBU Captain, caught her like this. Now he had two reasons he could press charges. Unreasonable noise, and intoxication in a public place.

"Hey, they're hot" Shisui grinned. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea going to apprehend the two perpetrators.

"Excuse me, miss." Itachi completely disregarded his elder cousin's statement with a roll of his eyes, and stepped forward, opting to pretend he didn't know who the two females before him were before they got too friendly with either of them. "Are you ladies aware of the time?"

Sakura, who had been just about ready to shout out another loud shriek of the male jewels yet again, paused slowly, almost as if still registering that there was somebody other than Ino there, alongside her. She turned slowly, her eyes even more slowly falling upon the figures of Itachi and Shisui. "It'sss... umm..." She tried to read the watch on her wrist, squinting as if her watch were meters away. "Twwww..." It seemed as if she was having a bit of trouble identifying whether it was two, or twelve, stalling until the numbers became a little less fuzzy. "It's late." she finally settled with that answer, grinning like the mad chesire cat, as if there was something ridiculously funny about not being able to tell the time.

"It's 12:47, if you must know. Far too late for young ladies such as yourselves to be out here all alone. It is dangerous." He tried convincing them, but knowing the reputation the two of them had earned among Konoha, he should have expected the reply he had gotten.

"Pffft! Bring it on, tough guy. You want a piece of me?!" Ino hollered, standing up straight as she looked at Itachi with what she hoped was a menacing look, clearly not being able to identify him as Itachi, and he doubted Sakura would be able to do so as well. She took several seconds to steady herself and made to punch Itachi in the shoulder, missing by a lot, and going right past him, despite him not moving even a centimeter. She lost her footing, clumsily slipping on her stilettos that were much too high for someone this drunk, until she landed on Shisui's hard chest with a small "oof". She was quick to grin, Shisui questioning if she was laughing at herself or smiling cheekily for having "successfully" punched Itachi. "Hey, you're... kindaa... cute." She looked up with hazy bright blue eyes, cupping Shisui's cheek with her right hand. Her face got nearer, and Shisui felt his heart flutter for a few seconds in anticipation, mentally shouting OH MY KAMI IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING? AFTER WAITING FOR SO LONG?! "'tss bad I don't know who you are." Ino grinned once more, before releasing her grip on the Uchiha slash police man and aimlessly walking back to Sakura. Shisui's shoulders visibly slumped in disappointment, although the blush on his face said all it needed to.

After the blonde kunoichi finished her little episode, Itachi opted to continue instead of waiting for her to make an attempt at him too. "I have it in me to charge you two for public intoxication and unreasonable noise, as well as sexually assaulting a fellow police officer," Itachi was quickly pulling all of this out of his ass, though he knew they wouldn't know that. They were too drunk to notice the difference between a lion and a kitten at this point, he was sure. Did they even know where they were?

"Oh no, whatever shall we do, Ino?" Sakura scoffed, her voice feigning a fake worry as they both promptly began laughing some more.

Itachi's eyes narrowed. "Can you both return to your homes at once?"

Sakura and Ino looked at each other, as if communication telepathically. "We s'pose... we ssshould call it a night now. But don't think it's because we're scared of you two" Ino drawled on accusingly, trying to stand on her feet to perhaps poke Itachi on the chest to make a point, failing miserably, and once again, falling forward, having Shisui quickly steady her by nimbly grabbing her shoulders and keeping her up before she broke her ankles in half.

"For Christ's sake, these girls are so wasted!" Shisui remarked, amused. He hadn't seen such a case since Mikoto's Christmas Party!

"I don't think they'll be able to walk home." Itachi shook his head, watching as Ino could barely stand on her own heels. "You take the blonde one, I'll handle Miss Haruno here." He addressed her formally, so as to not arise any suspicion from Shisui as to their relationship or friendship. Because, of course, he'd never hear the end of it, because the only female "friend" that Itachi had was Hana, and that was because they were practically on the same team.

Shisui nodded without question. Why should he care? The blonde one looked like the friendlier of the two when drunk, if you know what I mean. "What direction do you live in blondie-chan?" He asked her.

Ino giggled. "No, I will NOT sleep with you, random stranger." almost as if she had heard Shishui proclaim his intentions of doing just that (which Kami he swore he didn't!). She buried her head in his chest, making Shisui blush almost immediately at the contact.

"Miss Yamanaka" Itachi warned, all too aware of who she was, as the daughter of the Yamanaka Head, but of course he was sure even Shisui knew that much. "I'm sure your father wouldn't want us to notify him that we have apprehended his daughter, completely intoxicated in a public park."

"Hai, hai" Ino dismissed his comment with a wave of her hand, seemingly unaffected by the threat, because in all honesty she was, clearly too drunk to register the fact that she would have hell to pay if her father caught wind of this. "My houssse 's dis way." She point behind her. Shisui merely nodded, slowly beginning to turn around. "Carry me, mister Uchiha-san!" she laughed suddenly, wrapping her arms around Shisui, locking her arms around his neck as she released herself, allowing her feet to dangle beneath her and having Shisui carry all her weight. He fumbled to get her arms off of him, suddenly feeling much too hot for his own good, and it didn't help when she put her entire weight on him, now pressed up flush against his chest. "Oh, come on! Be a man!" she complained, sensing Shisui's hesitancy.

It took him several minutes, all the while having Itachi impatiently stare at him with an annoyed look on his face (how hard was it to restrain a drunk kunoichi?), but he finally managed to immobilize the Yamanaka, having thrown her over his shoulder (thank god she was as light as a feather) like a sack of potatoes, although she did start making noises similar to that of a police car giving chase.

"I guess I'll call it a night then, Itachi. I'll see you tomorrow." Shisui figured he wouldn't see his cousin again, mainly because he supposed the other girl would take some more time to drop off, seeing as she had already fallen asleep on the small park bench, as if it were her bed and she had every right in the world to do so. And with that, Shisui began walking off, idiotic blonde and all her "Weeeoooh, weeeoooh, weeeeoooh" sounds.

Itachi looked back at the pink-haired kunoichi and couldn't help but let a minuscule sigh escape his mouth. This was going to be troublesome.

Remind Itachi to make more of a background check on his future medics.

"Haruno-san"

"Nerm.." Sakura tried to brush away the hand that was shaking her shoulder none too gently. And she had finally gone to sleep too! She had finally gotten Ino to stop pestering her, that stupid Ino-pig and her stupid alcohol and her stupid penis game. Pffft, that's not even a game, she thought.

"Haruno-san." the voice was much more persistent, the hand shaking her shoulder not ceasing.

"What?" she suddenly snapped harshly, the stupid hand on her shoulder acting as a pestering fly that relentlessly buzzed in her hear. As could be clearly noted, she was never all too fond of people waking her up -especially when so, so desperately wanting nothing more than to welcome sleep and succumb to its beautiful, beautiful dream land, a small thought appearing in the back of her mind about her having a team to meet tomorrow morning, but she was too tired and drunk to think much of it at the time.

"It is not proper for you to sleep on a bench." the man who's hand clearly belonged to him stressed. "Let me escort you home, please."

Sakura's head hurt so badly, the alcohol in her system not high enough to hide it any longer, and she was so, so tried, that she only really heard him say "Sleep, bench, home" It must have been something along the lines of "would you prefer to sleep in a bench, or at home?" and even Sakura's drunk, disoriented mind registered that she much preferred her frilly pink comforters, after having realized that this was most definitely not her bed, and as such, not her primary choice of sleeping location...

'Home' Sakura thought almost reminiscently. Where exactly was home, for that matter?

"So, Haruno-san?" Apparently, Sakura wasn't the only one asking herself that very same question, she would have mused if her head didn't hurt so damn much right now, and if she knew who the hell was talking to her, anyhow.

"Umm..." she looked around her, everything a blur, as she tried to figure out where exactly she was, and where exactly her home was, for that matter. "This way..." she said at first very firmly, very confident. "Or... perhaps this way..." she said hesitantly as she frowned, pointing in the complete opposite direction from where she previously pointed with much confidence. "Or maybe even over there..." her finger settled for a direction in between both, pointing direction behind her as she leaned back on her bench, until she was looking behind her, of course, upside down.

Itachi mentally groaned. Oh god...

Itachi had now been following Sakura around for about twenty minutes, with still no success, swiftly grabbing her by the shoulders to prevent her from stumbling nearly every minute as she kept up her search for her home. But frankly, he doubted that they'd have any success if the first twenty minutes of looking for her own home had been a fruitless attempt. She was lost. And he couldn't, out of pride and out of manners, just leave her there stranded, even though he so desperately wanted to. This was around the time that creepers lurked about searching for young, drunk, innocent girls like Sakura to take advantage of, and even though he supposed she could fair well enough on her own, he didn't know what to think of a drunk Sakura, and frankly, he couldn't have her destroying buildings just because she was tipsy, and some random loser had made the sad mistake of picking her as his victim.

And as he thought this, she suddenly slipped and stumbled on something that wasn't even there, and began tumbling forward, giggling all the while.

This girl...

"Haruno-san, please try to remain on your feet." he shook his head in dismay, now finding her butt on the floor, her still giggling about nothing in particular. He takes his eyes off of her for one minute and she's already down on the ground...

"Hai, Hai..." she said this, yet she made it no point to get up, letting Itachi know that she planned on just sitting there and that she would not be getting up anytime soon.

Where were they exactly? Itachi looked around, and soon found his left eye twitching profoundly.

They were back to where they started: That damned park

"Haruno-san..." Itachi was becoming incredibly weary and incredibly tired, damn it! He was already sleep-deprived enough as it was, and this girl was taking up valuable time that he could spend resting and catching up on that well needed sleep.

Sakura cut him off before he could finish off his sentence, perhaps threatening her none too subtly that he would leave her there if she didn't stand up and walk -it's not like it would matter anyway, the likelihood of her remembering anything was slim to none. "Have you ever looked at the starsss?" she slurred. Itachi eyed her wearily. "They're quite beautiful, especially when its completely dark." she grinned a child-like grin.

"Haruno-san-" he tried cutting her off impatiently, but she merely brushed him aside, now falling backwards, laying down on the soft grass in which she had landed on when she fell.

"Come, sit with me." she giggled. Itachi eyed her as if she were an idiot. Why, if he got caught doing such a childish thing... -it'd ruin his whole reputation! "Oh, cut it out Uchiha." she snorted, and Itachi was mildly surprised that she even knew who he was (or maybe she was just able to register the proud Uchiha insignia at the back of his shirt and accordingly called him as such. There was no way she could possibly identify him as Itachi in her current state). "No one's watching, I swear." she hiccuped a bit. Itachi held back the need to roll his eyes. There was no way she of all people could assure him of that. But nevertheless... he eyed the deserted streets (it must have been around 1:30 -something by now) before slowly walking towards her, and hovering over her. "Sit!" She urged, bending upwards and pulling on his hand.

Itachi's eye twitched once more, and he felt the need to pull back, to cringe away. He had never gotten used to physical contact... especially not with the opposite sex, though he'd never admit it. Either way, Sakura's strong grip told him she wouldn't be budging any time soon (how was she able to use her chakra so well, without accidentally putting too much pressure on his hand, yet not be able to figure out where she lived or even walk for that matter? Strange girl she was...). So not having much of a choice on the matter unless he wanted Sakura to hunt him down (which he had a feeling she'd attempt to do and end up hurting one or both of them), he sat down, and Sakura, grinning in triumph, laid back once more. "Come on, look at the stars! They're so pretty."

And so lay down he did, and look at the stars, he did. There was an oddly comfortable silence soon, and Itachi found himself asking just how he had ended up in this situation. He grimaced. 'I should have given the Haruno to Shisui' Then again, the Yamanaka might have tried to rape Itachi, seeing how unpredictably flirty she was while drunk.

"Look! That one's Orion's Belt!" Sakura exclaimed suddenly, pointing up at the star. "And that one right there! Do you see it?! That one's the Big Dipper!" Sakura didn't even wait for his response, naming out each and every single constellation in the sky that she knew, even while in her drunken state, which was a lot, mind you.

"You sure know a lot." Itachi noted after some time, waiting for her to finish her list politely before he spoke.

Sakura merely giggled, taking it as a compliment. "When I was a weeeeee little girl," Sakura began, looking away from the stars and staring at him, an almost cute and child-like sparkle in her eyes, "my mother taught all of these to me." She stopped giggling slowly. "It had been one of my father's favorite hobbies... before he passed."

Itachi's eyes widened slightly at the sudden revelation, not that Sakura would be able to see it. "Ahh... I'm sorry." he commented quietly, suddenly feeling like she had just revealed something to him that she wouldn't have otherwise, were she sober.

"For what?" she was back to giggling in almost no time at all, as if she couldn't even recall what she had just told him.

Itachi saw what it was. A defense mechanism, even when so, very drunk, if only to make sure she didn't get hurt. "...So what was that one called?" he pointed upwards, realizing that Sakura didn't wish to talk about it, and he was absolutely nobody to deny her of this.

Sakura suddenly stuck her face next to his, trying to pinpoint where exactly he was pointing, as if she would only see what he saw if she put herself in his shoes. "Oh!" she exclaimed loudly. "Thats-!"

And so the seconds passed, and as well the minutes, and the hours, soon afterwards. Itachi didn't know when it had been, but she began falling asleep alongside him. "You're still not home, Haruno-san."

Yet, she seemed bothered about something entirely different from her current predicament. "Stop with the Haruno-san. My name is Sakura. Sa-ku-ra." she stated, her words nearly an incoherent mumbled as she desperately tried to keep her eyes open.

"Haruno-san,-"

"Sa-ku-ra." she emphasized once more.

"Why does it matter? You won't remember this by the time you wake up tomorrow." he raised a delicate eyebrow.

"I will too... You just... watch... me..." And slowly but surely, she drifted off to sleep.

"Haru-..." but he stopped himself, seeing her closed eye twitch slightly, "Sakura-san..." She opened her eyes slightly at this, as if she were fighting with every fiber in her being to stay conscious.

"Hai?" she yawned out.

"You can call me Itachi." He wasn't quite sure what had led to this -it didn't matter, he tried to tell himself. She wouldn't remember.

"H-Hai... Itachi...san..." her eyes closed once more.

"Sakura-san" he tried to wake her once more, but she failed to open her eyes. Yet, despite this, Itachi did not miss the way a smile formed on her lips as she fell asleep, his name the last thing on her lips.

And so, she had fallen asleep beside him, head resting on his arm, soft incoherent mumbles coming from her mouth every so often. Itachi wasn't even sure when it had been, or why he had even allowed it for that matter, but she was all cuddled up in his side, stealing his warmth, and he hadn't said a damn word about it. And he silently sat there, almost reprimanding himself for putting himself in this situation, mentally repeating She's drunk, it can't be helped, all the while mentally thanking whatever gods there must be somewhere that she would not remember this when she awoke the next day.

And he still had not the slightest clue of where she lived...

'Ohh... my head...' Sakura mentally groaned, tossing a pillow in front of her face, trying to block the sunlight from her face. Kami, she hadn't woken up to such a terrible headache since that day she woke up on the roof of that damned hospital she worked at.

"I am SO going to kill Ino." she muttered to herself, as she begun to feel the major hangover finally wash over here. And suddenly, she remembered, the thought hitting her like a ton of bricks none too gently thrown at her brain by inner Sakura. "THE MEETING!" she tossed the blankets aside and jumped off the bed-

-only to realize that this was not her room.

-oh, and that there Itachi was, emerging from the bathroom with only some slacks on.

She blinked, once, twice, three times. This wasn't real. This couldn't be happening. No way in hell.

What had happened last night? She couldn't remember. It was all a blur, sometime after accepting to play that stupid game with Ino.

'I swear, if I slept with him, I'm going to slaughter both him AND Ino.' Sakura thought with anger, but upon giving Itachi one more glance she couldn't help her cheeks from flushing as she thought about doing anything to that man.

"Good morning."

"L-Likewise, Itachi-san." she nodded, trying to regain her composure, and succeeding relatively well, all things considered, things being the dirty, dirty thoughts and images Inner was throwing around in her jumbled brain. But then she realized that she had suddenly called him Itachi-san, and her cheeks flushed once more, this time in embarrassment, "G-Gomen" she suttered quickly. "U-Uchiha-san." she bowed once more, not understanding why exactly she had blurted out Itachi-san, as if it were normal for her to do so or something. He had only ever been Sasuke's aniki, the Clan heir, and she had always taken extreme precaution to give him the respect that he deserved.

"Itachi is fine, Sakura." Itachi mused (Sakura somehow taking this statement as a demand because who the hell was she to defy Itachi freaking Uchiha), surprised, although not showing it, by Sakura's outburst. How had she even...?

She looked up suddenly, almost as if perplexed. Why the sudden formality? It couldn't be that they had...? She looked down abruptly, having not taken into account what she was wearing, or not wearing, for that matter. 'Okay, my clothes are on, so I'm almost positive I didn't sleep with him...' Sakura confirmed, trying to create some form of normalcy out of the situation she was currently in. But there is so much two people can do without necessarily undressing, inner reminded her, and her normalcy was quite promptly castrated as another blush erupted from her cheeks.

"I-Itachi-san," she suddenly spoke after several seconds of looking at each other, much too high-pitched than she would have liked it to be as she tried to become accustomed to the formality he allowed, "We didn't umm..." she didn't know how to put the words together without possibly making her pass out in her own pool of blood. "How did I end up here, exactly?" she finally settled upon, deciding that it was best she start with that, and that way she wouldn't have to ask the words she dreaded to say.

"While walking back home with Shisui, we spotted you with your Yamanaka friend at a lone park." Itachi responded blankly, meeting her heated gaze with his own leveled one, his pale and smooth features contrasting greatly to Sakura's blushing pink mess of a face.

"Ahh that's right... And I can't remember much after that.." Sakura frowned, mentally punching herself for allowing herself to get this drunk.

Itachi nodded, and continued, partially relieved that she could remember nothing else. "Shisui took your friend home, and I was left to escort you to your home, but you couldn't recall where you lived." Sakura blushed in embarrassment at that. "So, I took you here." Itachi failed to mention that they had been up til nearly four in the morning conversing about mindless things such as ice cream flavors and the stars and their favorite activities and their favorite weather, but he had long since decided she didn't need to know that. She didn't deserve to, frankly, after everything she had put him through.

"And... ermm.." Sakura hesitated.

"I slept on the couch, Sakura-san. What kind of person do you take me for?" he smirked in amusement, almost feigning to be hurt by Sakura's insinuation that he would take advantage of a drunk kunoichi who didn't even know left from right or up from down.

Sakura merely blushed in embarrassment at Itachi's insinuation, mentally apologizing to him for thinking that Itachi, who had only ever been kind and respectful the few times she had interacted with him, would do such a thing to her. Looking around, she couldn't help but notice that Itachi's bedroom was complete with a full tv and audio set, and a leather couch in front of it, a blanket still tossed on it, having clearly just been used. "I know, I'm sorry I put you through all this trouble." she bowed to show her gratitude. She barely realized that aside from eating at the Uchiha household from time to time and crossing paths in places such as the Hokage tower and the marketplace, she had never actually gotten the time to get to know Itachi. And for some reason, something deep inside of her told her he wasn't such a bad guy, don't as her why. She of all people had no idea why something inside of her screamed that he was genuinely a nice guy, although the fact that he had quite literally taken care of her during her drunken rampage might have something to do with it, despite the fact that he owed her nothing and they were no more than acquaintances, if that.

-And suddenly, Sakura noticed that she had been staring at him for far too long (it didn't help that he had no shirt on).

"Shit, I'm going to be late!" the thought snapped her back to reality, cursing as she panicked and looked around frantically for some form of a clock, or something that would inform her of the time and how royally screwed she was.

"It is only 7:00, if that is what's worrying you." Itachi notified. "You awoke quite early, all things considered."

All things considered you've only had three hours of sleep, while drunk off your ass, no less

Sakura sighed in relief at the news.

"There is clothing here for you..." he pointed towards the clothes at the foot of the bed Sakura had slept on. "Okaa-san said they were your spare clothing, left here last time you visited." Sakura faintly remembered that it was for Sasuke's birthday, she and Naruto had planned a sleepover sort of thing, and she had left her clothing there, deciding that it would be best she had spares here in case she slept over again (it wasn't uncommon, after all. She, Sasuke, and Naruto had been together since they were two feet tall, and they had only grown closer and closer, and much more inseparable as the years went by. She had spare clothing in Naruto's house as well, and they each had a small drawer filled with their clothing in her house, just in case.)

"Thank you." she was truly grateful for everything he had done for her thus far. "Would you mind if I..." she motioned towards the bathroom, also attached to his room (he probably had one of the best rooms in the house, being the future clan Leader and all...).

"Not at all. The towels are in the rack next to the sink." he merely informed, stepping away from the bathroom door, and letting her pass. In response, she gave him a grateful bow once more, before walking past him and locking herself in the bathroom.

It was somewhat surprising to see Itachi waiting for her as she emerged from the bathroom, dressed in her usual ninja attire (she had noted with much glee that she wouldn't have to make a stop at her apartment to get dressed at this rate, for she already had a toothbrush here too!).

"Is there something I can help you with, Itachi-san?" she questioned, exiting the bathroom as she dried her hair with her towel.

He shook his head slightly. "I am just informing you that Okaa-san has breakfast ready for you in the kitchen."

"O-Oh..." a small blush rose on her cheeks. Because for Mikoto to know that she was here, Itachi would have to tell her that Sakura had gotten extremely drunk and had slept in Itachi's bed, and just the thought was enough to send butterflies in her stomach. "A-Arigatou." she thanked once more.

And then he nodded yet again. "I'll be taking my leave now, Sakura-san. I'll see you later."

He was gone before Sakura could even say bye back, too nervous and flustered to respond.

"H-Hai..." she mumbled this, long after he was gone, thinking that she was extremely lucky that Itachi had been there to care for her, or else she would have awoken on a park bench at who knows what time of day. She would most certainly have to kill Ino -how dare she get her this drunk and leave her hanging, with absolutely no consideration to how she would live past that night?

First thing first though, she had to get rid of that massive headache currently pounding her brain into pudding. After all, what would her new ANBU captain think, showing up with a hangover? Sakura shivered, not wanting to imagine it as she began pushing chakra into her head in order to ease the pulsing, enough so that she could survive the day that followed.

"Good morning Mikoto."

"Good morning Sakura-chan!" Mikoto greeted, and Sakura couldn't help but think that there was never a day where Mikoto wasn't as bubbly and energetic as a puppy. "Lovely morning, isn't it?"

It could just be her, but perhaps she was a little more giddy than usual? Nah, it couldn't be, it was probably just her headache talking, that had quickly re-emerged a few minutes after she had tried to suppress it. "Y-Yeah." she lied, knowing she had definitely seen better days, although Inner was quick to say nothing was better than seeing Itachi's half naked body as soon as they woke up, although she punched Inner the moment the thought escaped her.

"Seems like you had a long night, Sakura-chan." Mikoto giggled slightly, putting a hand to her mouth as she tried to stifle her laughter, a devious glint in her eyes, which Sakura could clearly not catch at this moment in time, due to her jumbled brain.

So, clearly not understanding the terribly dirty and filthy innuendo Mikoto was making, she agreed. "Terribly long." she sighed.

"Oh?" Mikoto laughed some more. The poor girl, she didn't even know what she was setting herself up for. But before she could even make a comment on that, they both heard footsteps and they averted their eyes to the hallway, where they could clearly see Sasuke's figure approaching.

"Ohayo, Okaa-san." He was quick to approach the kitchen, "Sakura," it took him several seconds to notice that something was amiss, because Sakura had most definitely not spent the night last night, and so he had to back track several steps, until his eyes landed on Sakura's figure once more, who was sitting on the dinner table, slowly munching away on her breakfast. "Sakura?" he questioned, as if asking when Sakura got there and why she was there, above all else.

Yet, Sakura found that as she was swallowing her food, trying to clear her mouth to talk, Mikoto was already talking, and everything was going too fast, on top of her already pounding headache, and she could do nothing to stop it. "She slept over at Itachi's, Sasuke-kun."

"..."

"Mikoto!" Sakura exclaimed loudly, at a loss for words once she was finally able to swallow down her food (although she had nearly choked on it upon Mikoto's statement).

Sasuke stared at Mikoto's all too sweet smile, almost as if she were extremely happy with the news, and then he stared at Sakura, hoping that she would deny it, but all he saw was a blush on her face, and it was enough to make him feel sick to his stomach. "I... I think I'm going to hurl..." And so he promptly turned around, with all the intentions in the world of going to the bathroom and doing just that, right past Sakura and back down the hallway, and it wasn't until several seconds later that Sakura had the idea of clearing things up.

"Oh, come on Sasuke-kun! Wait!" she abruptly got up, meaning to chase him as she took a few steps down the hall.

Yet, Sasuke turned around, giving her the most disgusted look he could muster, which was a pretty damn disgusted look, might I add. "My own brother, Sakura...!" Sasuke gave off a shiver, and he turned around once more, heading towards the bathroom.

'Oh my Kami, Sasuke thinks I'm whoring around with his brother...' As the thought began sinking in, she couldn't help but pound her head on the wall of the hallway. She was screwed. Royally, royally screwed.

I wouldn't mind

Oh kami, there she went again, punching herself internally before her inner self gave her a nosebleed at the thought.

Mikoto gave another laugh, one much too happy and amused at Sakura's own expense, but before she had time to demand that Mikoto fix this misunderstanding she had created, she suddenly spoke. "If you don't hurry you'll be late today, Sakura-chan~!" she proclaimed in a merry, sing-song voice.

Sakura's eyes widened, and 'Holy crap Mikoto's right! I'm going to be late!' Sakura didn't even give herself time to say bye as she quickly ran back to the kitchen, took her breakfast to go, and took off, and she definitely didn't give herself time to question why exactly Mikoto knew she was busy and that she would be late if she didn't hurry.

But, obviously, this was all because, of course her cute little Itachi-kun told Mikoto that his team was being assigned a medic, but due to their high skill and demand, that they were essentially first-pick and could choose whoever they desired from the list being provided to them. And obviously, she had been the one to strongly recommend Sakura, who she knew to be highly skilled and definitely up to par to Itachi's standards (And on another note, Mikoto's Uchiha bride standards, but that was a different topic all on its own). 'But maybe not,' Mikoto suddenly thought wickedly.

But even all that had just been in good fun, she swore, because she loved Sakura as a daughter and had just hoped that she'd see more of her around now that her and Itachi would be put on the same team, but she had gotten more than she had bargained for with the way things had turned out just the previous night.

'Well, this'll be interesting.' she couldn't help but giggle merrily. Because it was a no-brainer that Sasuke was too much of a scaredy-cat, having dealt with Sakura for much too long, to even consider putting a ring on that finger. And naturally, she only had one son left...

'Alright, I'm here...' Sakura looked around somewhat curiously, 'and by the looks of it, I'm early.' she grinned in glee. Now all she had to do was not look like she had a hangover, and she was good! In the clear! A+!

Suddenly she heard a cough, and looking up above her, she saw a ninja lounging lazily on the tree in which she stood under. "So you're our medic. Figures." Sakura squinted, but could not make out who it was from his location, up until he sighed and jumped down.

"Genma-san!" She quickly identified him, nervously examining her new teammate. She had been so preoccupied with not look drunk, that she had completely forgotten about the butterflies she should be feeling right now. What if her team didn't like her? What if they didn't think her good enough?

Genma gave a curt nod, seeing Sakura fidget. "Don't get nervous yet, I'm not even the captain." he tried to joke, a way to ease her uncertainty, even if just a little. Besides, she'd need it, what with their captain. Then again, maybe not, he thought as he looked at her up and down. It was Sakura Haruno, the highly prized student of the Godaime herself -he had heard quite the stories about her, such as single-handedly coming up with an antidote for Sasori's lethal poisons, and even defeating him shortly afterwards. Not to mention her fists were enough of a reason to stay away from her if you were an enemy.

Sakura gave him a small smile, a form of thanks, but suddenly became all too aware of the fact that she could swear she had seen Genma and his team before, but she couldn't quite remember who they had been.

"Yo! Genma!"

Sakura turned, suddenly making eye contact with Shisui, who, upon seeing her, couldn't help but break out into a grin, until it suddenly exploded into great volumes of laughter, and Sakura couldn't help but grimace. Of course it had to be Shisui, one of the two people that had seen her and her debacle the previous night. "Man Sakura-chan," he was quick to skip all sorts of respectful formalities, although it didn't bother Sakura because it quickly told her that he wholeheartedly accepted her into the team, "you should have seen yourself yesterday~" he grinned.

"Oh god, please..." Sakura shook her head, "Don't go there, not in front of Genma-san." she frowned. She had a reputation to uphold, god damn it, and she was going to keep it -she didn't care if she had to hunt Shisui down for it.

Shisui let out a small chuckle. "Don't worry Sakura-chan, your secret is safe with me." and after saying that, he let out a loud, long, exasperated yawn. "Man I'm tired." he shook his head, as if hoping that it would somehow bring more life into him.

"What were you and Itachi-san doing there so late anyway?" Sakura inquired curiously. She knew them to be best friends, but unless they had some form of business to attend to, there was really no reason for them to be together so late at night, on a Sunday, no less.

"We had been returning from a mission debriefing." It was Genma who spoke this time, knowing exactly when she was talking about -the only reason why he hadn't been with them was because he lived in the opposite side of town.

"Yeah, what he said," Shisui confirmed, giving a small nod as he pointed towards Genma. "It was pure luck that we ran in to you when we did."

Mission debriefing...

Oh Kami... Oh no, Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no

no no no no no no no

She dreaded asking her next question, but she knew she had to. "Wait... this doesn't mean that our captain... he's...-"

"Yo! Itachi! You're late!"

"Hn"

Sakura turned, aghast, her face losing all its color as she gazed up at her new captain, he returning her gaze with a smirk of amusement.

She was screwed.

Completely and utterly screwed.

Ino would have hell to pay.

End of Chapter.

Well, what did you guys think? xD I had so much fun writing this, just because of the peculiar situation in which Sakura was put ^.^ This completely part 1 of the fic, which will be completed on the next chapter, which I will hopefully have up in about a week or two's time. ^-^

Questions? Concerns? Comments? Critiques? Leave 'em all here!

Any and all feedback is much appreciated!

-MarzSpy