I should probably do a better job catching plot bunnies so they don't just leave me high and dry.

Saturday came quickly and Sakura arrived at the Uchiha compound to Mikoto's bright smile as the Uchiha matriarch warmly invited her into their home.

"Good evening Sakura. Come in, dinner is almost ready."

"Thank you for having me." Sakura remarked politely as she took off her sandals and placed them on the shoe rack.

"It's always a pleasure having you over." Mikoto said. Every time Sakura talked with Mikoto, she wondered why Sasuke was so rude. Mikoto was a lovely, elegant, and polite woman. Perhaps Sasuke took after his father, Sakura thought. It was no secret that Fugaku was a prickly man who could be condescending towards others.

"Do you need help with anything Mikoto-san?"

"Oh, no. You go on upstairs and dinner will be ready shortly. You're our guest, Sakura. Naruto is in Sasuke's room. Feel free to get settled." It wasn't often that Naruto beat her to an appointment but a shift at the hospital ran a little late and Sakura needed extra time to clean up and make herself presentable. The composed Uchiha matriarch ushered Sakura in and led her to the stairs leading up to Sasuke's room.

"Thank you." Sakura said a bit awkwardly, wanting to help rather than be a burden. But she understood the formality of the night and walked up the stairs. It was only at the top of the staircase that Sakura realized she only knew the way to Itachi's room. Sakura looked back down the staircase only to find Mikoto gone and no one else in sight.

She stood there, torn between going back down the stairs and troubling the older woman with directions, which would only result in Sasuke's mother having to drop what she was doing to lead her to Sasuke's room. Alternatively, Sakura could walk down the hall calling for Sasuke. But who knew how many other people were currently in the house. Heaven forbid Sasuke's father appear from somewhere and embarrass her. Her last option was to go to Itachi's room for directions. But she wasn't sure if she wanted Itachi to be there when she got to his door.

Wanting to pull out her hair, Sakura inwardly screamed in frustration.

"What are you doing?" Her head whipped towards the source of the voice and let out a sigh of relief.

"I was-your mother told me to hang out in your room until dinner was finished." She swore he had a small smirk.

"So you decided to loiter by the stairs?"

"I wasn't loitering!" Sakura glowered. "I've never been in your room, you jerk."

"Hn." The other infuriating Uchiha in her life turned on his heel without even a gesture telling her to follow him.

'How could a woman like Mikoto have raised such a jerk,' Sakura thought for the second time that day. When they were younger, Sasuke was too aloof and haughty to invite his team to his house, not wanting to embarrass himself in front of his family at only being a genin at age 12, even though that was the norm.

By the time they were chunin, Sakura had been too busy as apprentice to Tsunade to have much leisure time. Naruto similarly had been off with Jiraya for a few months for training while Sasuke threw himself into training with his clansmen.

When Sasuke opened the door for them Sakura noticed that Sasuke's room was near Itachi's, although Itachi's was farther down the hall.

When she entered the door, Naruto was seated on a desk chair, his arms hanging by his sides as he lazily turned the seat from side to side with his feet.

"Sakura-chan!" He yelled exuberantly, immediately perking up in her presence.

"Go get your own water, dobe." Sasuke said as he sat on the edge of his bed.

Naruto in response frowned and got up with a, "I wanted to talk to Sakura-chan, teme." Still, the hyperactive ninja left the room without additional fuss in what Sakura could only assume was a show of restraint by Naruto.

Sakura took the seat Naruto had just occupied and glanced around Sasuke's room, noting the differences between his and Itachi's.

While Itachi's room was sparse, Sasuke's looked a bit more lived in with a slight mess that could only be from a boy. The room itself wasn't cluttered by any means but he indulged in a bed rather than a futon. There were a few clean but unfolded shirts by the corner closest to the door and the bed was haphazardly made. Kunai and shuriken were on his desk and his tanto lay by the foot of his bed.

She was too busy taking note that she missed the calculating, analyzing gaze her teammate had on her.

"Sakura." At the sound of her name, she turned her attention to him. "Did something happen with my brother?"

Before she could school her features or even attempt to hide her reaction, she unwittingly stiffened, giving it away.

"What happened?"

Sakura laughed uneasily. "What would possibly happen to your brother? He's fit as a fiddle the last time I checked. Why, does he seem to be suff-"

"I asked if something happened with my brother."

Oh.

The kunoichi gulped quietly, wondering what had sparked this conversation. "I don't know what you're asking, Sasuke."

"Do you like Itachi?"

'Where the hell is this coming from,' she thought. Unless Ino went around blabbing to everyone, Sasuke shouldn't have ever suspected something like this. Not only was he notoriously blind to what girls thought or did, but he'd never expressed any interest in her love life. Their lunch the other day was uneventful and Sakura was barely able to say two words to his older brother with Naruto's chatter. But before she could give her answer or even formulate one, he cut her off.

"Nevermind. I don't want to know." Her confusion was turning to irritation which he had to have sensed if the narrowing of her eyes wasn't a big enough clue, Sakura's chakra flared just a little in agitation. Her mind was whirling from his change in demeanor and his abrupt questions. "Sakura."

"What?" She snapped, getting more annoyed as this conversation went on.

"Be one hundred percent certain."

"What?" The confusion was returning, making her head spin. Why did conversations with her friends go nowhere? Ino and her craziness, and now Sasuke and his vagueness. Shisui wasn't like this either so it couldn't be an Uchiha trait unless it only affected the main house. "Be more specific, damnit!"

"Hn." Sakura took a deep breath to convince herself that punching her teammate through his wall before dinner would be impolite to Mikoto.

The silence stretched on and Sakura knew getting anything more from her teammate would be like pulling teeth. She had half a mind to stomp out of the house with Sasuke in tow and beat the answers out of him anyway. Before she could execute her plan however, Naruto came in with a cup of tea for her and a glass of water for himself. Sakura knew Sasuke wouldn't say anything about what they'd just discussed to Naruto and that made her feel a little bit better. Naruto would just find a way to make a mess of things and dinner was just a few minutes away.

Taking the offered teacup, some of her earlier ire melted away and she decided she would beat the annoying Uchiha for answers later.

"Hey, hey, Sakura-chan." Naruto's exuberant voice cut through her violent thoughts. "Shisui invited us to get drinks after dinner. He said he was paying! Come with us."

"Naruto," she began, in a chiding tone. "I can't crash something like that, especially since he offered to pay. It would be rude."

"But he said he would pay for Team 7! That includes you."

"I have a shift at the hospital tomorrow." Naruto's crestfallen face made it difficult for her to completely refuse. "But, I'll stay out for an hour or two."

"Yeah! That's the spirit, Sakura-chan."

By the time Team 7 entered the dining room, Itachi, Mikoto, and Fugaku were seated and the table was set. Sakura felt a bit bad for not providing any assistance. With Sasuke seated by his brother and Naruto already taking the seat across from their teammate, Sakura sat across from Itachi, actively avoiding his gaze. Damn Naruto and his lack of any social awareness in the awkward way she took her seat.

In front of each person was a personal serving of beef soup, a bowl of rice, and a piece of grilled white fish. The rest of the table had plates of side dishes, pickled vegetables, slices of grilled meat, and fresh greens to share.

"This looks amazing, Mikoto-san, thank you for having us." Sakura said, hinting to Naruto to also thank their hosts for the meal.

"Yeah, it looks delicious!" Naruto fidgeted excitedly in his seat, already picking up his chopsticks before anyone else did.

"Nonsense, you're both welcome to join us for dinner anytime." Mikoto said kindly.

Fugaku, a man of few words picked up his chopsticks and began the dinner by taking a small portion of his rice, prompting others to begin eating as well.

Itachi didn't look in her direction often but when he did, the fine pink hairs on the back of her neck would stand up. She also tried to get Ino's words out of her mind.

After the training session and dinner with Itachi and her team, she immediately set out to confide in her best friend. Ino had been overjoyed and a bit over excited to see her and hear the latest development. 'I'm telling you, Forehead, he's a player', she'd exclaimed more than once. 'Live a little', 'get some Uchiha action', and 'don't fall too hard', were Ino's pearls of wisdom. Sakura had ignored all of them. But one stood out to her.

'Don't fall too hard for him, he's the clan heir and poster boy of a clan that prides itself on marrying within the extended family to keep their kekki genkai.' Ino had said the words in a deadly serious manner. Then immediately switched to being a crazy person with her next words 'you'd be better off going after Shika or Neji.' It was at that point in the conversation that Sakura tuned out her best friend, mulling her words over in her head.

If she thought having a childhood crush on emotionally stunted Sasuke was difficult, having a crush on Itachi would be tantamount to proving she had masochistic tendencies.

As a result of her conversation with Ino and the frustrating interaction with Sasuke, Sakura was stuck.

She truly did care about the Uchiha heir. Sakura knew for certain she held him in high esteem and after their kiss, she had become aware of her affection for him.

But was the cake worth the bake? That was essentially what Ino was getting at. Was the hurdle of possibly going against the Uchiha elders and Itachi's parents worth the trouble. More than that, she was still unsure of his intentions or feelings. How much time and effort could she expend to her feelings for him if there were so many uncertainties and obstacles. She wasn't a love struck pre-teen anymore and she didn't believe in fairy tales. Sasuke had never talked about the inner workings of his clan but it wasn't unusual for clan heirs to be betrothed from a young age.

She'd spent her whole life without a significant other, too busy hung up on Sasuke during her genin years, and then too busy with training with Tsunade and the hospital during her formative years to really consider anyone in a romantic way after Sasuke.

Sakura had been so engrossed in her thoughts she almost didn't catch the question directed at her.

"You left so quickly for your dinner, I never got to ask if Itachi gave you any trouble."

She could practically see the wheels in Naruto's head turning and inwardly raged at him for being so dense. "But Sakura, we went to-" the pink haired kunoichi stepped on what could only be Naruto's foot under the table next to her and dug her heel in. Naruto yelped a bit.

"Sorry, Naruto. I didn't know that was your foot." Sakura said sweetly, trying to keep from glaring at him.

Sasuke sighed quietly and Sakura had to keep herself from glaring at her other teammate. Usually she was the one exasperated with their antics but as soon as they enter Sasuke's domain, he gets uppity and pretends he's the mature one.

Thankfully, Fugaku continued eating and Itachi barely looked up from his own meal.

"Itachi-san spent the entire time resting." Sakura offered instead, wanting nothing more than to slap both of her teammates upside the head.

Sasuke would no doubt ask her about what happened while tending to Itachi. She wanted to yell that she hadn't done anything wrong. If anything, she was the one who had been wronged! She'd had her first kiss stolen by someone who either didn't remember or didn't care to remember.

Her nerves were frayed and her patience was running thin and dinner had barely just begun.

Thankfully for Sakura's sanity, the rest of the dinner proceeded without a hitch.

Sasuke's father had even asked her a few questions regarding ANBU and whether she had plans to become a full-time member. Sakura had of course dispelled any notion of that with her steadfast commitment to the hospital. She'd expected Fugaku to be displeased but he appeared indifferent to her answer.

Damn Uchihas and their perfect masks. Already irritable after her conversation with Sasuke, Sakura decided the only Uchihas worth her time were Mikoto and Shisui. At least the two of them gave her facial expressions to work off of. Even Kakashi, with the majority of his face covered was better at expressing emotions. Sure, some of them were false but at least it was something.

I'll admit that this is the fluffiest story I've ever made so it's difficult for me to keep it light. Sorry the dinner was so cliche. I had an idea for how to end the fic in this chapter but I realized I love Shisui too much and flustered Sakura is surprisingly entertaining to write. Join me friends, on this ride of fluff. Don't forget to leave a review, I know the chapter's short but I decided to keep it light.