A/N: Ahahahah *sheepish laughter* so I was quite stressed out for studying for a final until yesterday...and then this scenario hit me with all the force of a freight-train riding plot bunny, so I spent two or three hours in the middle of the night roasting to death away in my closet writing this because my roommate and I had a guest on the couch and said roommate had a test this morning and I just COULDN'T stop writing!

This fic mostly stems from the fact that I, like Sakura in this story, do not like to be told I'll do fine on a test. Because really, do they know I'll do fine? Maybe I spent the day holed up in my room writing instead of studying like I was supposed to! Etc etc. I don't even like it when my best friend tells me I'll be okay (though for her I make an exception XD).

And I actually managed to write a not-in-a-totally-different-world-setting Naruto fic! Still an AU since it's non-massacre ItaSaku, but they're still ninja right? XD

Please enjoy!

Nerves

"You'll be fine!"

"See you after your test, I'm sure you'll do great!"

"Hey, Forehead! That big dome of yours should get you through this thing, no problem, right?"

Not you too Ino-pig, Sakura groaned mentally, finally retreating to the relative shelter of a nearby maple to escape the well-meaning well-wishers. I hate it when people tell me I'll be fine! They don't know I'll be fine!

The pounding in her ears, the thunder of her heartbeat, was loud and overpowering. Trembling all over with nerves and fear, she finally gave in to her childish urges and ducked out of sight behind the maple's trunk. Pressing her back hard against the rough bark, she bit her bottom lip and scrunched her eyes closed, hoping that if she hid from the Academy building and couldn't see it...

"Maybe it'll go away..."

Sakura sighed as she opened her eyes and let herself slide to the grass, drawing her knees up to her chest. Hoping the Academy and her upcoming pre-genin exit exam would disappear because she hid behind a maple and closed her eyes wasn't just childish and ridiculous; it was stupid. Her brain could hardly let her believe that something she had spent the last week and a half studying for didn't actually exist.

"But I don't like it when people tell me I'll be fine," Sakura muttered, her voice bordering on petulance. She felt at the age of twelve she was allowed to whine a little. "How do they know I'll be fine if they don't know how much I've studied or how well I remember the material?"

Her pink locks spilled over her pale cheeks as she let her forehead fall to her knees. "I hate exams," she whispered, throat tight with stress and nervousness and a terrible urge to cry.

As her anxiety finally reached a peak, fat teardrops beginning to run down cheeks turning crimson with chagrin, a noise to her left raised her head with a jerk.

Itachi-kun.

"The report from our latest mission, Hokage-sama," the seventeen-year-old ANBU captain said, handing over the thin sheaf of papers that chronicled the last three weeks in the lives of his team.

The Third nodded, accepting the crisp papers. There was no need for questions; every ANBU captain was trained to write their accounts quickly and efficiently during times when they weren't fleeing from pursuit, a lesson that stuck well even when the learner was a silver-haired chronically late ninja.

Though he apparently hasn't been too good about that now that he's put aside his ANBU vest, the Hokage thought to himself, feeling the urge to massage his aching temples. He didn't have time to waste now thinking about Kakashi when he had another ANBU captain in his office.

"And the news is," the old man prompted as he leafed through the unsullied paper sheets.

"No danger to the village, but we might want to send periodic patrols by every few months just in case the situation escalates," Itachi replied confidently. "I would say they qualify as B-rank missions but nothing more."

"Mm," the Hokage murmured noncommittally, surreptitiously watching the boy from under his broad-brimmed hat, the symbol of his office.

He was dressed in the standard ANBU outfit; a skintight high-collared black sleeveless under dull-grey vest, nicked in places from previous battles, nondescript black pants and arm-guards complete with metal gauntlets running the length of his forearms, and the squad issue ninjato strapped to his back. The spiral tattoo on his left shoulder and the porcelain mask, pushed up to rest somewhat rakishly on his head, completed the picture. A small streak of blood smeared the teenager's left cheek.

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"It's not mine, Hokage-sama," Itachi replied to the unspoken query. "On our way home a group of Kiri-nin decided to try us; I would have washed up before coming but I thought you'd like the report sooner rather than later."

"Thank you, Itachi-kun."

The young ANBU captain was already turning to go when the Hokage stopped him with a question.

"Do you have any more missions lined up?"

At the door, Itachi paused, his shoulders tensing imperceptibly at the unexpected interrogation. "No, Hokage-sama, I don't think my squad will be sent out for a few days...."

"Ah really, well, don't let me detain you from your rest then," the old man remarked casually. "I, on the other hand, need to get a few things in order if I'm to appear at the Academy exit exam today."

"The Academy exit exam, Hokage-sama?"

The young captain's tone was light and casual, as if he didn't quite care of the answer…but….

Sarutobi smiled, the expression unseen behind the younger boy's back.

"Yes, I think the oldest of the pre-genin are taking their practicals today and Iruka-kun asked if I could help proctor. Apparently even the most rambunctious twelve-year-olds are politer when the Hokage is present." The man laughed, groaning a little as he got to his feet. "It's the robes and the hat," he confided with a grandfatherly grin. "They don't really care about me. Well, go get some rest and enjoy your days off."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Itachi replied automatically, hearing the clear dismissal in the village leader's words.

Academy exit exams...Sasuke probably hasn't had his yet...

If he hurried he could still make it in time to wish his brother good luck....

He had washed and rushed to the Academy in record time, and now prowled the grounds hidden in the trees as he searched for his little brother's chakra signature, hoping Sasuke hadn't already taken his test. Rounding the Academy building's south face after another fruitless scan of that direction, he slowed and stopped among the concealing branches as something entirely un-Sasuke-related caught his attention.

It was hard to miss bright pink hair.

He recognized her, vaguely anyway, as one of the girls who occasionally visited the Uchiha compound. They were abundant especially during Christmas, Valentines, and Sasuke's birthday. While they could be somewhat annoying, he nevertheless found his little brother's popularity a source of constant – if secret – amusement, and occasionally let some of them in. She had been one of the few who would thank him when he did.

But it was the utterly dejected slump of her shoulders that made him slip silently from the tree he was in to the one she sat under rather than the words of gratitude she occasionally sent his way.

He settled above her just in time to hear her last string of mumbled unhappiness.

"But I don't like it when people tell me I'll be fine. How do they know I'll be fine if they don't know how much I've studied or how well I remember the material?"

Then, muttered into her knees, "I hate exams."

And then she was crying, quietly and trying to hide it, but crying nonetheless.

And, unsure yet why he was choosing to act instead of slipping away to find his brother, the young ANBU captain jumped lightly down from the branches.

The girl's reaction when she glanced up, slightly bloodshot jade eyes meeting dark obsidian, was immediate.

She shot to her feet, kunai appearing in her hand from her hip holster, as she backed up to assess the new arrival. And, just as instinctively, Itachi slipped into her path of escape, easily disarming her of the knife as he twisted her about to press her firmly to the tree, facing him. Trained ninja reflexes had still remembered that the girl was a "friend" and not someone to use excessive force on.

The girl stilled her struggles as her eyes met his once more, and widened.

"ANBU-san?"

Itachi mentally winced. In his hurry he'd forgotten to change his ANBU gear for something more casual, and was now probably scaring the girl half to death.

He sighed.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said quietly, releasing her. "I just returned from a mission and my instincts are still...close to the surface."

Sakura nodded wordlessly, inexpertly checking for bruises across her wrists. "I-Im sorry I...t-tried to...I was just...n-nervous," she stammered, feeling the adrenaline ebb from her system.

"Hn, the Academy exit exams."

The twelve-year-old swallowed hard. During their brief encounter she had forgotten about the test, but with his quiet words it all came tumbling back. Nervousness in the form of nausea threatened to swamp her, a fine, quivering tremble starting in her hands.

"Look at me."

The command was soft but insistent, the young ANBU beside her fixing her with an expression that brooked no argument. "Look at me."

"Are you afraid?"

Sakura nodded, her throat too tight to speak as she battled the pre-test nerves as well as the intimidation she felt from the quiet boy with the dark hair and dark eyes.

So familiar... They reminded her of someone...she wondered if he was an Uchiha like Sasuke. The eyes are...similar.

"Have you studied?"

"Y-yes."

"Do you trust yourself?"

About to answer in the affirmative, anything to make this strange, intimidating person go away, her mind ground to a halt.

"What?"

The teenager sighed, though she couldn't tell if he was actually annoyed with her. "Do you trust yourself? It's a simple question," he told her. "Do you trust your mind not to fail you? Do you believe you won't panic when the time comes?"

"I...I don't know," Sakura murmured, shamefaced as her eyes flickered down to the shaded grass at her feet.

His next action surprised her.

Warm fingers gripped her chin, tilting her face up so that she looked into his eyes once more.

"A ninja must trust himself, to know his limits, to believe that he can do the task set to him. Or her," he added belatedly. "It isn't a lesson taught outright at the Academy but one that needs to be learned nonetheless. Ninja can tell one another they will do well on exams, and that is kindness. However, because I suspect you have heard that too much already, I will tell you instead that you will only do as well as your effort and studying allow. Don't expect miracles."

The smile that flashed over his features, there and gone, startled her.

"I prefer to hear those sorts of words myself when preparing for an exam. Maybe one day you will tell them to me yourself."

And then he was gone, disappearing in a small shower of leaves.

"Sakura?"

She jolted out of her reverie to flush at the familiar voice.

"Sasuke-kun!"

"I thought I saw my brother here..." the young Uchiha said bluntly, obviously somewhat uncomfortable to be questioning a member of his fan club but willing nonetheless in the chance that she could confirm the sight he'd seen of his brother.

Sakura only blinked a moment, vaguely surprised that she wasn't being swamped by the cotton-candy soft, pink emotions that usually mobbed her when she saw Sasuke. "I...I don't think I..."

The memory of the teenage boy with his commanding eyes and gentle voice blossomed in her mind.

Her cheeks went crimson.

"M-maybe!" she squeaked, suddenly made breathless by the pounding of her heart. "H-he disappeared...sorry...."

Sasuke "hn'd" in disappointment and turned away. "If you see Itachi-nii again, tell him to stop hiding and just come out instead of skulking around when he's just come home from a mission," he ordered as he walked off.

"Sure...."

Sakura sighed, and smiled. Somehow she wasn't so scared for the exam any more. Her mysterious benefactor had taken away her terror with his soft words, and left her feeling...confident. It was strange and comforting, a knot of surety lodged behind her breastbone.

"Thank you...Itachi-san," she whispered, and darted off to the Academy building as Iruka-sensei called her in.

High in the branches of the tree, still masking his chakra signature as he had with his brother's appearance, Uchiha Itachi smiled, watching the little pink-haired girl disappear into the Academy building before he turned away to ferret out his little brother and wish Sasuke good luck.

"You're welcome...Sakura."

Preemptive Question Answering

I don't think I wrote Itachi too OOC? After all lots of painful unhappy events didn't happen, though you can still tell that Sasuke is one of his most important people still. Sasuke is still pretty blunt and whatnot, but I figure that even without the tragic past he's got a bevy of fangirls and has been compared to Itachi his entire life so he'll still be pretty abrasive.

The story's finished as is ^^ though there IS an epilogue that's being polished up to be posted eventually.

I think Sasuke typically refers to his brother as Aniki, but for the sake of the story and Sakura's not remembering/not knowing Itachi's name, I made him call his brother Itachi-nii instead. Will probably change that in the epilogue....

Anyway, please review! ^^ Authoress thrives on happy feedback cookies!