Senko: This is an ItaSaku one-shot. Depending on how I feel and whether or not I develop ideas for this story, this story can be a one-shot, evolve into a story, or have some sort of sequel (or follow-up, whatever it's called).
Summary: He believed too much in training, and she believed too much that ice cream is good for the soul. The reason Sakura likes Sasuke. Childhood ficcie implied ItaSaku
Disclaimer: No own. Duh.
How It All Began
SPLASH!
Sakura's small body collided onto the wet ground. Her clothes were soaking wet from the puddle she fell into - well, more like she was pushed into. She struggled to lift herself up, Ami's laughter sounding in her ear.
"You have such an ugly fore head, and such an ugly gift too," she snickered, throwing down Sakura's gift. She had torn apart Sakura's gift, beautifully yet clumsily wrapped in a shiny pink wrapping paper with a silver ribbon, and broken the elegant glass figure inside when she dropped it on the ground.
Sakura stared in horror as she watched the shattered glass pieces scatter around.
Ami and her crew, consisting of a couple girls around her age, watched in amusement at Sakura's expression. Ami smirked, "Sasuke-kun wouldn't want a gift from you at all."
The tears formed in Sakura's emerald eyes, "B-But…that was for Ino-chan…"
"Right," one of Ami's crew members drawled sarcastically.
"I don't even know who this 'Sasuke' person is!" Sakura argued.
Ami growled, "Stop making stupid excuses! You stay away from Sasuke-kun!"
With that, the crew left. A broken Sakura was left alone in the cold rain of winter, sobbing over the smashed crystal-like, rectangular figure with the words "Merry Christmas" written in the center. She had bought for her best friend, Ino. Weakly, she pulled herself together and tried to gather the pieces. What would she do now? She had spent her allowance to buy the expensive figure for Ino and it was Christmas Eve today.
The sound of raindrops smashing against the ground echoed in her ear as her fragile hand weakly picked up the glass pieces.
All of a sudden a hand reached out and began to pick up the shattered pieces. Sakura immediately looked up and saw an attractive young boy, perhaps five years older than her, squatting beside her and picking up the pieces.
"Uh…s-sir, it's alright. I…I can pick it up myself," she said, trying to not let the tears fall and appear weak before him.
He ignored her and continued to pick up the pieces. Soon, all the visible pieces of glass were picked up from the wet ground. He stood up and walked over a garbage can to dump the pieces, Sakura followed after him. She squint her eyes in pain and tried to hold back a sob when a piece of glass cut her finger. Immediately she brought her index finger to her mouth, sucking it. He noticed this and took her finger in his hands. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a bandage and wrapped it gently around her fingers.
"Uh…t-t-thank you," she said, blushing.
"You're welcome," he said, speaking for the first time.
Sakura smiled, happy that he spoke.
"Did you trip?" he asked.
It took her a moment to realize that he was referring to her broken crystal. She frowned.
"No…" she muttered. "A-Ami broke it…"
"Ami?"
"Yeah… and I spent all my allowance on it for Ino-chan, too…"
"Why didn't you try to get the crystal from her?"
Sakura shifted her gaze to the ground, ashamed at her inability to defend herself. She kept quiet.
"Here," he said.
An identical crystal to hers was placed in front of her. Sakura stared back, shocked to see it.
"I bought it for my little brother, but you can have it. I'll buy him something else."
Sakura could feel the tears well up in her eyes. She shook her head, "N-no…I don't want it. It's yours. I want to give Ino-chan something from me."
"Take it."
"No."
The two stared at each other for a moment until Sakura broke out into a small giggle, "You remind me of ice cream!"
"…ice cream?" he wondered why she would compare him to ice cream.
"Yeah. Ice cream always makes me feel better," she smiled.
He stared at her, wondering what he had done to make her feel better. He was simply being courteous to a stranger in need of help, "Father says that ice cream is bad."
"Bad?" she exclaimed. "Ice cream is good for the soul!"
He looked at her, amused with her, "Training is good for the soul."
"But ice cream is better!"
He inwardly smirked at her naivety and playfulness, "I don't eat ice cream, so it's not better."
She looked at him with a shocked expression and wide eyes, "Hey, uh…"
"Uchiha, Itachi."
"Itachi-san, I have enough money with mefor ice cream. Will you eat ice cream with me?"
"No."
"Why?"
"I don't eat ice cream."
"That's a sin!"
"…"
"It's immortal!"
"You mean immoral."
"Oh yeah, immoral. But will you please eat some ice cream?" her right hand tugged his dark shirt and her green eyes looked up at him pleadingly. "It's good for your soul."
"No."
"Please? Just once? One time only. I want to thank you for helping me."
"I haven't helped you."
"But you helped me almost as much as Ino-chan has helped me. Just eat one bit, please?"
"No."
"B-but…" tears formed in her emerald eyes. "I have to thank you…one bite won't hurt, Itachi-san."
He looked at the saddened little girl and inwardly sighed at her, "Alright."
She beamed happily.
"One strawberry," the man said, handing Itachi (since Sakura was too short to reach) a strawberry ice cream cone.
"Get some spoons too, Itachi-san," Sakura said, pointing to the cup of spoons that seemed to be a million feet above her.
Itachi grabbed two spoons and walked out of the ice cream parlor with Sakura. He handed her the ice creambut she raised it to him, "You first."
He silently sighed at her actions and dipped his spoon into the ice cream cone and brought the ice cream to his mouth. If he had not been Uchiha, Itachi, he would have smiled at the delicious dessert. Unfortunately, he is the Uchiha, Itachi, so he remained stoic.
"Like it?" Sakura asked.
He didn't reply but she found her answer when he took another bite of the ice cream.
"Here," he said, taking out the crystal again.
Sakura shook her head, "No, it's alright, Itachi-san. It's yours."
"And the ice cream was yours. I have to thank you," he said, using her words against her.
She blushed.
"Here," he repeated himself, the crystal still waiting in his extended hand for her to take.
"A-are you sure?"
"Yes."
She took the beautiful crystal from his hands, "Thank you very much, Itachi-san."
Sakura rested her head on her folded arms, which were situated on her desk. She sighed happily as she reminisced about Itachi. She sat up straight again, but Itachi never left her mind. Resting her head on her left hand and her right hand holding her pencil, she began to scribble on her paper.
Uchiha Sakura - heart - - heart -
Sakura Uchiha - happy face - -heart-
The bell's ring broke her from her reverie.
"Sasuke-kun is so cute!"
"I love his smile!"
"Sasuke-kun passed the test with an A again!"
The group of girls squealed dreamily.
Sakura, who had sat by the window and was now packing up her belongings to leave the school, ignored them. She really couldn't see why they liked this Sasuke so much. Poor Sasuke must be terrified to have such scary girls always talking and thinking about them. While packing, something caught the corner of her eyes. She turned and looked out the window. She smiled when she saw Itachi standing there. Sasuke (Ino had shown her who he was earlier that day)was running up to Itachi and when he caught up to Itachi, the two of them departed the school.
She let out a painful grunt when a hand pushed her to the ground and her small body met the glossy floor.
"Stop looking at Sasuke-kun!" Ami glowered.
Another girl nodded, "Yeah, and you said you don't like him."
"I…I don't like him!" she said, but she knew they wouldn't believe her.
"Oh, look," another girl said, picking up a paper from Sakura's desk. "Uchiha, Sakura."
Another girl snickered. "And she says she doesn't like Sasuke-kun."
Sakura squint her eyes in pain and let out a sob when Ami pulled oh her bubblegum hair. "Stay away from him, forehead girl!"
Sakura frowned while walking away from the school. Not only was she upset about the girls thinking she likes Sasuke, but Ino had been absent and she wasn't able to give Ino the present.
"Sakura!"
Sakura turned around at hearing the familiar voice. Ino ran up to her.
"Ino-chan!" she smiled.
"I had a dentist appointment today so I didn't get to come to school!" she said.
"Oh," Sakura reached inside her backpack and pulled out the crystal. "Here, Ino-chan!"
Ino gaped at the glimmering crystal. "S-Sakura…"
"I wanted to thank you for always being here for me and helping me!" Sakura smiled.
Ino gave Sakura a quick hug. "It's so pretty!"
Sakura giggled. She was glad that Ino liked her gift.
"I'll walk you home!" Ino declared.
The two began to journey to Sakura's house. Ino was telling her all about the evil dentist and how she would ban dentistry when she became Hokage.
"Sasuke-kun is so cute," she said dreamily.
Sakura frowned. "I don't know why everyone likes him. He must be scared."
"You don't like him?"
"No?"
Ino gasped. "Sakura, he's only, like, the cutest and strongest guy in our class! He's sooo cool!"
"So? He's not the strongest guy alive."
"You're right. His brother is stronger than him!"
"He has a brother?"
"Yeah, Itachi is his brother."
"Oh, I didn't know that!"
"Yep. One day, Sasuke-kun might even beat Itachi."
"But if Itachi is stronger, then why do you like Sasuke instead?"
"Duh, Sakura, Itachi is too old. He's twelve. When he's eighteen, I'll only be thirteen. He might want someone else his age."
"Oh…"
There goes her dream of being Misses Uchiha, Itachi. Sakura frowned. What if Ino was right? What if Itachi preferred a girl his age instead? She would be wasting her time thinking of him. That night Sakura's mind was plagued with thoughts about a certain handsome and powerful Uchiha prodigy. Morning wasn't the end those thoughts.
"...so, chakra control does play a very important role," Iruka said, his voice sounding throughout the room. Every pair of eyes belonging to a child in the room focused intensely on the teacher's lecture, all but one.
Sakura's eyes rested instead on a certain young Uchiha boy. She could see a side of his face and for the first time ever she noticed just how cute he was. He held beautiful eyes that she never noticed before and had neatly spiked hair. The way his eyebrows curled in frustration when he didn't understand what the teacher was talking about what simply adorable.
And Sakura smiled to herself.
Mrs. Uchiha, Sasuke wasn't such a bad title.
Senko: I am making a doujinshi version of this fanfic ;D but I've stopped to take a break because...um...my idiot brother used my copic pen and I don't know where the hell he put it -.- and then I can't find my pen holder anywhere and I think my mom threw it away. So I'ma have to buy new ones before I can continue.