The One

Part I

She was such a curious little thing. A walking contradiction if one will. Everything about her was deceptive. Her petite, lithe, kunoichi's body. Her vivid, soft, pink hair. Her big, luminous, innocent eyes. Those tiny fists. She was a devil in disguise, no doubt about it. Created to lure a Saint to sin. To bring a man to his knees. To bring him to his knees. He was by no means immune to her charms and try as he might, he couldn't escape the nether eyes, her smile and her fists cast around him.

The first time he'd felt himself drawn to his little brother's teammate was when his ANBU cell came across Team Kakashi on a mission. It was the middle of a gruesome battle and he'd been debating whether or not to throw ANBU protocol out the window and assist them when a flash of pink had flown out of a copse of trees to his right and a moment later he'd had to abandon his perch on a branch when the tree was upended and the entire forest seemed to fall apart under her tiny little fist. Well… Tsunade's little apprentice sure lived up to her mentor's name.

He wouldn't even attempt to deny that powerful women intrigued him. It had been that way since he was a child and seen his mother threaten his father and the way his father had bowed down to her will. His mother was sweet and kind and loving, but she was also an accomplished Uchihakunoichi. In her prime she'd been comparable to Tsunade in terms of power. In fact UchihaMikoto'ssharingan was vastly superior to her husband's. He'd learned to appreciate a powerful woman through his parents. He wouldn't want a submissive, quiet wife with no ambitions. He wanted someone who could challenge him, keep him on his toes and always make him wonder what he'd see from her next. It was the reason his very first relationship with Izumi had failed. Ultimately, Izumi couldn't keep up with him, as his powers and responsibilities increased his free time and even his desire to spend it with her gradually disappeared.

While he still liked Izumi very much for the kind, funny woman that she was, her lack of ambition threw him off. It their teenage years it seemed the only thing she wanted out of life was to marry him and settle down. She had no aspirations as a kunoichi and no real drive to defend their clan or their village. While there certainly was nothing wrong with wanting a quiet, peaceful life, as he himself often found himself wanting nothing more than that, Itachi was still a Konohashinobi first and foremost. His greatest desire was to keep their home safe. And he firmly believed that everyone should work towards that goal. No life can be had at all if one day they should suffer the loss of their home.

So his once promising relationship with Izumi dwindled down to a sort of warm if distant friendship, where he at times felt uncomfortable if she tried to get closer and rekindle the romance they once had. They'd never talked about why he'd suddenly withdrawn from her, Itachi too uncomfortable to broach the subject and Izumi too indoctrinated in how an Uchiha woman should behave towards her intended to question his actions. Shisui had repeatedly urged him to clear the air between them, to be honest to Izumi and tell her straight out that she shouldn't hope for more than his friendship. And Itachi promised himself he'd do it, for his own sake if not for Izumi's, but he never could find the right time or the right words.

And now he found himself totally and completely entranced by another woman. He'd never felt this way before. This ever encompassing need and desire to be close to someone, to know everything about them, from the sound of their voice to the smell and taste of their skin. All he'd ever felt for Izumi paled in comparison. He'd never felt the need to knot his fingers in her hair and bury his face in her neck, never felt the urge to plaster her against him so he'd feel every inch of her soft, alluring curves. He'd never, not once yearned to know what her lips tasted like, or how she'd sound moaning his name.

His dormant sexuality had awoken suddenly with the introduction of one Haruno Sakura to his life. Repressing those urges was near to impossible whenever she was near. And so he found himself equally desiring and dreading her company.

Six months ago he'd orchestrated a formal introduction by dropping in on his brother and his team's training one day with a bento their kaa-san had sent. Mikoto had in fact done no such thing, but Sasuke didn't need to know that his elder brother had spend the morning making the meal for his whole team simply for the purpose of meeting a girl.

It had been Shisui's idea, anyway. It had also worked flawlessly. He'd walked to training ground 3 and almost gotten impaled by spikes that exploded out the ground all around him. Only his fast reflexes had allowed him to jump up at the last second and evade the sharp edge of the stone spike. A second after he'd landed safely on the ground the very object of his fascination had run to him apologizing profusely and asking if he was okay.

Sasuke had been right behind her, examining his nii-san with a critical eye for a couple of seconds before sarcastically remarking that only Sakura would be able to catchsomeone like Itachi off-guard. That monstrous strength of hers never failed to shock everyone who encountered it.

Getting Sasuke to introduce him after that had been easy and he'd made sure to make a good impression on the girl, complimenting her strength and chastising Sasukewhen he tried to make her abilities seem freakish or scary. In fact, Sakura had almost blinded him with her smile when he'd implied that Sasuke was simply jealous of Sakura's prowess.

Now,six months later he could say that Sakura was a good friend. And he could also say that he'd done something wrong in the process of getting to know her. What, he didn't know, but it must have been something significant or Sakura wouldn't be a good friend. She'd be his lover. When he'd explained this predicament to Shisui, his cousin had shrugged and told him that going from friends to lovers was much easier than from strangers. That didn't help though, because Itachi had no idea how to make the transition.

Seduction, Shisui had said. But how? Itachi wasn't a virgin, that he'd lost some years back on a mission, but sex wasn't something he thought about on any frequent basis. In fact, he only thought about it when the occasional wet dream pretty much forced him to. Lately, these dreams had gone from occurring about once or twice a year to almost every night. And they always but always centered around Sakura.

Itachi still had no idea how to go about seducing her. Seduction missions were one thing. There he observed his target for days, and applied what he'd learned to good use, of course his looks did more than half the job. That wouldn't help him with Sakura though. She wasn't phased by his appearance and had no trouble looking him in the eye when they spoke. She'd blushed a couple of times, the first time he'd laughed at something she said, once when he'd complimented a new dress and once when he said that she was just about the most interesting kunoichi he'd ever encountered. And that was it. How was he going to seduce a girl that didn't seem to be the least interested in him beyond friendship?

Flirting, Shisui had said. Itachi had no idea how to go about that. He'd never flirted before. What does that even mean?

So he'd gone and done some research. Apparently flirting meant paying some playful compliments and generally trying to engage the other person in some form of playful banter and throwing innuendos when appropriate. Didn't sound all that hard. Oh, and eye contact, lots of it. What else? Right, giving the impression that you were interested. Hadn't he been doing that the whole time?

His first attempt at flirting didn't go as horribly as he'd expected. He'd intercepted Sakura as she left the hospital after her shift and invited her to join him for dinner. She'd accepted readily enough and he'd led her to her favorite tempura place which earned him a smile. Once they were seated he'd complimented her hairstyle, since she was wearing her longer hair up for a change and she'd ducked her head somewhat bashfully. This he'd tried to exploit by saying that there was no need to be shy, she was a pretty girl and he was being honest. At this she'd blushed and giggled.

That was a good reaction according to some of the books he'd read. The rest of the evening went by pleasantly, with Itachi paying for dinner and walking Sakura home. Once there, she'd smiled and said they had to do that again, which he'd agreed to and she'd gone inside after giving him another blinding smile.

Maybe he wasn't hopeless, after all.

Or maybe he was.

His second attempt at flirting didn't go nearly as well. Wrong place, wrong time were probably the reason. And the wrong company. He'd happened on Sakura and HatakeKakashi while on the way home from a mission. They likewise had been on a job and were just returning. He'd joined them at Sakura's invitation and immediately drawn her into a conversation. He'd pretty much assumed that Kakashi would stay quiet the entire time, since Itachi could never remember the man talking much back when they were in ANBU.

He hadn't taken into consideration that Kakashi had changed since his ANBU days and that Sakura was one of the reason why he'd changed. The older man cherished all his comrades but had an especially soft spot for his female team-mate, and while Sakura remained blissfully unaware of Itachi's intentions, Kakashi wasn't nearly as clueless.

That particular conversation had been nothing short of painful. Every time Itachi said something to Sakura Kakashi was there diverting her attention with something witty or funny that had her laughing or shaking her head at him. She was so preoccupied with Kakashi that she paid almost no attention at all to Itachi.

After a while Itachi had been forced to give up and stayed silent while listening to what he assumed flirtation should actually sound like. Well, he couldn't be good at everything. It just stung that apparently Kakashicould.

When they'd finally reached Konoha's gates, Sakura had run ahead after saying a cheerful goodbye and Itachi was left with his former squad leader. The look Kakashi gave him after he'd tried to nonchalantly excuse himself had forced him to stay and answer a couple of uncomfortable questions. Luckily Kakashi wasn't the type to unnecessarily torment someone and left Itachi standing there soon after he'd advised him to make sure that he clearly stated what he wanted from Sakura to Sakura or she wouldn't get it. Flirting, apparently had no effect on her. Subtleties of any kind were lost on her and if one wanted her to truly understand their intention they had to be blunt.

She's brilliant, Kakashi had said, smart as whip and can asses a situation faster than a sharingan can. Unfortunately, this was limited to the battle filed and the hospital. In private matters Sakura was a little bit slow on the uptake. With Naruto and Sasuke driving away any and all suitors, she hadn't had much opportunity to feel desired by men. Kakashi had told him to just be himself and tell her outright if he was interested with her. Playing games wasn't something Sakura appreciated, no matter how innocent. Oh, and if Itachi hurt her… Well, let's just say that Kakashi had implied that the three man of Team Seven and the Hokage wouldn't be the only ones after his head.

It figured that the only woman who'd truly interest him in years would come with an entire army of protective family and friends. Itachi, of course had no intention of hurting Sakura in any way. Quite the contrary, in fact. And if she decided to trust him with her heart he'd see to it that she never feels pain again, physical or otherwise. Itachi had always been good at taking care of the things that matter to him. And with Sakura he'd do all that he possibly can so that she never feels anything but appreciated and loved. He wasn't sure if he loved her. He wanted her, yes and he found her fascinating and irresistible, but love?

But it could be love. And if it wasn't love now it didn't mean that his feelings wouldn't deepen into it the better he knew her, the more time they spent together. In fact, he was pretty sure that once he truly knew Sakura he'd be unable to do anything else but love her.

But being blunt about his feelings and desires? He wasn't exactly sure that he could do that. No matter how much he differed, he was still an Uchiha. The lack of ability to properly convey feelings was a family trait of theirs. In fact, the only Uchiha he knew that didn't suffer this same predicament were his mother and Shisui. Even Izumi hid most of her emotions behind a thick reinforced wall.

This was also one of the reasons why Sakura fascinated him so much. She wore her heart on the sleeve for everyone to see and took absolutely no precautions to guard it. He could only guess that this was the reason her team-mates and the rest of her friends were so very protective of her. And he was too, he realized. Whenever she was near him, Itachi paid double the attention to their surroundings that he usually did, because he'd caught her flinching one time when some girls on the other side of the street were saying something disparaging about her because she was with him. That time he'd made sure to talk just a little bit louder as he relayed his mother's thanks for the poultice Sakura had sent her the day before and how Mikoto had praised her abilities as a medic. Sakura had glowed at his words and the girls had quickly disappeared.

Things like that would keep happening, he realized. He was popular with the girls around the village even though they had no idea who he was as a person, they simply seemed to either like his looks or his ninja rank. It would be even worse with his clanswomen, some of them had been raised with the hopes of becoming the next matriarch, of marrying him. He refused to marry anyone from the clan though, and his parents knew this, respected it. The clan elders had no idea whatsoever and would threw fits once they find out. And that would be happening soon since tonight he was going to talk to Sakura and if she accepted him he'd tell the clan that he was courting her with marriage in mind.

First though, she had to accept him. If she didn't….. He didn't really want to think about it. He had to think positively or he wouldn't ever approach her. Uchiha Itachi the coward of the Uchiha Clan, he thought dryly as he made his way to Sakura's little apartment.

It took him all of five minutes to get there and he didn't let himself think about anything as he raised his fist and knocked three times. A minute and 35 se I da later, yes he counted, Sakura opened the door, clad in a robe with wet hair. Oh hell. His mind blanked and he could only stare as she smiled at him.

"Itachi-san, what brings you here?"

With a deep breath he forced a smile on his face and looked in her eyes.

"May I come in, Sakura-san?"

AN: This is gonna be short 5 chapters max. It was meant to be a one-shot but it kinda got lot longer than intended. Next chapter Sakura's decision. Leave me a line or two if you like it.