A/N: Yes, I've actually managed to write it. Yay! As promised, it's a sequel to the previous story and since I've ended it the way I did, I will be writing another one to this story as well. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy it! :)

ITASAKU FESTIVAL 2014
Day 2 – Pining

Summary: Sequel to "In a daze", Itachi's POV
Genre: Romance/Humor
Rating: K+
Other info: non-massacre AU

PUPPY LOVE

He couldn't stop thinking about her.

Two weeks after their strange first meeting, Uchiha Itachi was still mulling over every detail of it with what could only be described as slight obsession and he simply couldn't get rid of the image of her smile from the back of his mind, no matter how hard he tried. It was becoming quite annoying, to be honest, because whenever he saw something pink, his thoughts went straight to her. Everything would have been fine with that, since he didn't encounter many pink things during his normal day, but of course as life would have it he actually started to notice said things whereas before they had simply slipped his attention whatsoever.

He wasn't horribly alarmed by this turn of events at the beginning. He was a curious man by nature and he simply liked to know things that some people would label as completely useless or even as a waste of time. Then again, he had never felt so intrigued by a person in his entire life. In fact he thought about her so much, it was staring to intervene with his training. On more than one occasion Shisui had been able to win their daily sparing session simply because Itachi's mind seemed to be elsewhere at the time. Distractions could be fatal in their line of work and so Itachi decided to deal with his problem quickly to avoid getting himself killed.

Of course he had limited experience when it came to women. He was also unwilling to consult anyone on the matter out of a mixture of embarrassment and self-reassurance that it surely wasn't that hard.

It proved to be more than a bit challenging. He didn't even know how to approach her, which was truly pathetic. In the end he just started following her like a shadow whenever he was in the village, but even though he was an excellent shinobi, he couldn't actually stay perfectly hidden at all times, especially not when he was distracted by the subject of his investigation.

This was precisely why his younger brother had spotted him in the first place.

Itachi's private mission of learning everything he could about Sakura – and thus finally coming to a understanding about the reason behind his unexpected interest in her – had been going of weeks at that point. On that particular day Itachi was sort of accompanying Sakura on her weekly trip to the market when his brother appeared next to him on a rooftop he had chosen as his observation spot.

"What are you doing, aniki?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer to his question, judging by the look on his face.

"Hn."

He didn't feel like stating the obvious. After a moment of staring at each other, Sasuke nodded stiffly, more to himself than to his brother, and shunshined away, leaving Itachi were he was. He shrugged it off easily and went back to his previous activity, completely unperturbed by Sasuke's strange behaviour.

The next day though Sasuke approached him shortly after breakfast and, after all but dragging him away from the prying ears of their mother, he asked him the same pointless question once again.

This time Itachi had a feeling he wouldn't be able to get away with a hn, so he decided to skip mind games and get right to the point.

"I find her intriguing," he replied and then observed in quiet amusement as Sasuke proceeded to choke on his own spit.

"What," he managed to say after a moment, looking at Itachi as if he was truly seeing him for the first time.

"She intrigues me," he repeated patiently as if he was explaining something very simple to a particularly obtuse child. "We have met a few weeks ago and it made me realize she is more than I've believed her to be."

Sasuke took his time in processing this information. Then, completely out of nowhere, he started laughing like it was going out of style. Tears appeared in the corners of his eyes and slid down his rapidly flushing face as he staggered back a few steps. He leaned on the wall to support his body which was shaking with his every breath and continued to laugh, apparently finding something completely hilarious in this rather awkward situation.

Itachi observed him with both eyebrows raised, waiting patiently for some sort of an answer.

Finally, after solid fifteen minutes of doing a marvellous impression of a hyena, Sasuke took a long breath and was able to talk like a normal human being.

"You two are hopeless!" He chuckled and then shook his head. "Stop being creepy and just ask her out, okay?"

"I don't like her," Itachi said with a frown.

"No, you're right. My bad." Sasuke smirked at him. "You're just pining for her like a lovesick puppy."

With those words he turned around and left a dumbfounded Itachi in the living room, where he continued to stand completely speechless for another few minutes.