Itachi sat quietly in his desk at the back of the classroom, playing lightly with his lip piercing. He had learned early on in Kakashi's class that his sensei had the tendency to arrive at least ten minutes late every day. Not that he really cared, this class, no, this school was boring as hell. Ever since the school year began, everything had just been too easy for Itachi. Everything they taught at this school was already known by the Uchiha, even in the advanced placement classes.

After a good fifteen minutes of Itachi mulling over how pathetic his life was becoming, and how he should have just graduated a year early, Kakashi-sensei entered the room. The classroom quieted down and turned its attention to the silver haired man, but mostly, to the short pinkette standing next to him. This quickly caught Itachi's attention, as pink hair was very unnatural. He quickly decided that it couldn't be her natural hair color, but he remained peaked with interest, as it was against school policy to dye your hair. She had to be bold, coming to an expensive private school looking like that, he mused. The class was muttering comments on her appearance, so she looked down to her feet.

Itachi took that moment to inspect the rest of her. She had a black ribbon tied into her hair, a bow sitting prominantly on the crown of her head. Her eyes were a shocking jade color, which somehow matched nicely with her bubblegum pink hair, he noted. Like every other girl in the school, she wore the black skirt, white blouse and red tie that entailed in the school uniform. A pair of black socks reached up just above her knees, and she wore a pair of beat up all-stars for shoes. This could also be considered bold, as most students wore black dress shoes, Itachi thought. She sure as hell has guts, that much was obvious.

"Joining us from her school in Japan is Sakura Haruno. Please welcome her here as a new student at our school." Kakashi-sensei cleared is throat.

"Thank you for welcoming me into your class." she bowed. She could tell that the whole class was wondering the same thing, how she could be japanese and yet had features that said the opposite. Sakura hated those blank stares. She had gotten them in japan, and now america too?

"Yes, thank you Sakura. You may take the seat next to Itachi, in the back." Kakashi-sensei told her boredly, indicating with his finger the location he had placed her in. She nodded her head and went to the seat he had assigned her to.

Itachi's eye twitched at the mentioning of him, and of the seat next to him. Now he would get attention he was oh-so-desperately trying to avoid, because the stares drawn to her would no doubt be directed at him as well. It was bad enough he actually had to go to school, but the fact that people were going to expect something of him was worse. He knew how teachers worked, they would place some sort of attraction near a certain student so that said student could be pulled more into the class. Now they were pulling that crap on him.

Sakura avoided the looks of criticism she recieved and sat at her new desk. She glanced at the boy next to her, who glared back at her blatantly. Great, I start at a new school and someone already hates me, she thought, aggravated emmencely. Of course she wouldn't already know that the stoic older boy before her hated perhaps everyone in the entire school.

"Did I do something wrong, Itachi-san?" The short pixie like girl sneered in Japanese.

"We're in America. Speak in English, Sakura-chan." He replied equally snobbishly and in perfect Japanese. Sakura felt her temper flair at the way he said her name in such a familiar tone. Who was he to call her by her given name? The only reason she had done so was because she didn't know his family name. Sakura couldn't help but to hate all the stupid, arrogant, rich kids she was going to have to endure for the next three years. They had no idea how hard life could be for some people, how hard life was for her. They just went on their merry way, spending all the money in their pockets as the went. Stupid preppy Americans.

"Don't talk to me like we're so familiar. Call me by my family name, Haruno." she said heatedly, continuing in her Japanese. She felt her face beginning to redden in anger, a sign to anyone who knew her that she was on the verge of eruption. Itachi didn't know her though, so he continued without a second thought.

"Then maybe you should call me Uchiha-san, or better yet, Uchiha-senpai." he told her as his lips pulled up ever so slightly in the corners. Just from observing her, he could easily tell that she was an under class man, no more than a sophomore. He had to admit, she must have been pretty smart to be accepted into an advanced class made for seniors. There was no way that she was smarter than he was, nobody was.

"Is there something you would like to share with the rest of the class, Itachi? Sakura?" Kakashi-sensei drawled boredly, his eyes pointedly glancing at Itachi's repulsed expression. Everyone in the room made a point in looking back at the two who had been bickering in perfect Japanese. A few of the guys snickered, as it was well known that Itachi never interrupted the class by something as inconsequential as talking, let alone with a girl. A few girls towards the front of the room giggled to themselves, the idea of Itachi talking completely ludicrous to them.

"As a matter of fact, I was just asking Itachi if he would be willing to show me to my next class, as he speaks Japanese too." She told Kakashi-sensei

innocently, talking in English once more. Sakura knew that Itachi was just the kind of person who didn't like to involve himself with anyone or anything, so volunteering him to help her would be just the thing to grate on his nerves. It was unlike her to purposefully try to irritate someone, but for some reason she couldn't define, she felt the need to do so with him. Itachi shot her a furious look, warning her to not drag him into anything extracurricular, but she ignored it.

" Actually, that is a good idea. Itachi, show her to her next class after this. Being able to talk to someone in Japanese will make Sakura's transition here much easier for her, not to mention much more comfortable." Kakashi-sensei told Itachi. He blanched at the very idea of walking down the halls with the pixie of a girl, even worse, helping her. Knowing there would be no escape, he gave the silver haired teacher a tight, quick nod in agreement.

The class returning its attention to the teacher and away from Itachi, the dejected boy slumped his head onto his desk in complete exhaustion. He glared needlessly at the girl who was paying strict attention to the lesson, unable to ignore the smug look on her face. Kakashi-sensei was going on and on about the civil war, something that Itachi had been repetitively been taught throughout his years of schooling. Naturally, he found it boring, like everything else.

Part of him simply couldn't believe he had been manipulated so easily, and by someone who he had just met. The only people who were somewhat capable of coming close to bothering him like that were those in his immediate family, and mostly his younger brother, at that. It didn't matter though, there was no way Itachi was going to let someone, especially the little pinkette next to him, get to him again. He would do as Kakashi-sensei had instructed, and take her to her next class, but after that he was going to ignore Sakura like he did the rest of the world.

His mind made up, he straightened his back in his chair, running his fingers through his raven hair and playing with his lip piercing again. Doing so was a habit he had developed after spending one too many classes listening to a boring teacher lecture to no end. Most people wondered how Itachi managed to receive the top grades in the class because he never bothered to pay attention, but nobody else in the class bothered to study as crazily as he did.

Throughout the duration of the class, Sakura was having a hard time not letting her eyes graze over the unruly boy next to her. Despite his bad-ass attitude, she couldn't deny the fact that he could be considered good looking by most. Sakura found it amusing that he showed off his rebellion, even in the way of his appearance. His long, black, silky hair was drawn back into a ponytail that sat from the nape of his neck to the middle of his back. As if the shadows under his obsidian eyes weren't dark enough, he wore thick eyeliner, pronouncing his I'm-dead-but-still-alive-emo style. His ears and lip were both pierced, and she didn't fail to notice how he played distractedly with his lip ring out of absolute boredom. And to top that all off, his school uniform was at least one size smaller than what most boys wore, making it overly tight and show the shape of his slender body. It wasn't as if he lacked muscles though, it was just that he wasn't bulky.

The worst part of it all was his hair, Sakura couldn't help but to think. It was so silky and naturally shiny, while it took hair product after hair product for her to get her own locks to stop frizzing. Why was she jealous of his hair? He might as well have been the devil's incarnate. Just from their short conversation, she already knew he was self centered and arrogant. His pride was too much to overbear.

Angry with herself for having been distracted by the grumpy older boy next to her, Sakura began writing down every word Kakashi-sensei said. American boys were trouble, that much she knew, and she wasn't going to let one get in the way of her studies, no matter how good looking he might be. She came here to study and go to a university, not to check out the guys.

The bell rang, indicating that the class period was over, and that it was time for everyone to move on to the next. Itachi stood stiffly after putting away his classroom supplies. He knew that he wasn't going to get out of walking the girl to her next class, and the ridicule that was guaranteed to come along with it. He watched as the girl packed her bag and then stood next to him. She looked up at him expectantly, not sure if she should just start walking or wait for him to lead.

"Well? Tell me where your next class is." he said bossily in Japanese. The pink haired girl looked down at the schedule in her hand. She could already tell that he was going to be as difficult as he could manage. At least he had the curtsy to speak in Japanese.

"I have second period English with Jiraya-sensei." She replied. He began to walk her through the hallways, ignoring the gawking stares. He wasn't sure why he had grabbed her wrist, but he told himself that she would get lost in the throngs of people if he didn't. Then he would have to look for her, and he really didn't want to go through the trouble.

"Teme, isn't that your brother over there?" A certain blonde boy pointed out to his friend.

"I told you to stop calling me teme, dobe. And who cares about my brother? He's just a stuck-up know it all." The raven haired boy responded, not even bothering to look up from the message he was reading off of his phone. His brother was not someone he wanted to deal with. Itachi was always the perfect one, always got the perfect scores, always said the perfect things. Sasuke was just the shadow behind his older brother, at least in his parent's opinion.

"Well, he's dragging a pink haired girl in the direction of our next class." Naruto muttered. He already knew from Sasuke that Itachi wasn't the type of person to commune with people, so it was unusual to see him pulling the girl through the crowds. Sasuke was simply shocked to see his antisocial brother helping some girl to her class. There was no way he was doing it out of wanting to, so he must have been forced into it. After looking at the girl, there was no way he could picture her making him help her in such a public way. He must have actually fallen for someone, Sasuke mused. Getting a good look at her slim bodice and strangely fitting features, he couldn't blame his brother for having any possible attachment to the girl. She had a type of bizarre beauty that was incomparable to other girls.

Sasuke couldn't begin to comprehend why he had just thought that a girl he didn't know was actually beautiful. Maybe she had a nice body and was easy to the eye, but if she knew his brother, that meant she was untouchable. Hell, she might be the same kind of know-it-all that his brother was.

The two boys followed behind Sakura and Itachi, though unable to sense the strain between them. Sakura clearly did not like the way Itachi was dragging her to her next class, and he was either too oblivious to notice, or he noticed and just didn't care. His pointedly livid aura was causing too many stares for her preference, and she couldn't figure why he was so angry. Sure, she had practically forced him into assisting her, but was that really a good enough reason for him to be so enraged?

"Onii-san, what are you doing in front of my class?" Sasuke's impatient voice rang out. Of course his trusty sidekick had to be following along as well, Itachi thought sardonically. His younger brother was nothing short of a pain in his side, and now even at school he was unavoidable.

"Why, I was merely escorting Sakura here to her next class. Does that intervene with your personal agenda?" The emotionally drained boy asked silkily, his voice dripping with sarcasm. The two brothers glowered relentlessly at each other, inducing a thick awkward atmosphere to settle around them. Sakura glanced back and forth from Itachi to whoever his younger brother was. Their not so friendly relationship with each other was more than apparent, and she didn't like the uncomfortable sensations they were creating. Unable to stop herself, she attempted to break the tension by speaking.

"Thank you for showing me where my class was, Itachi-san. I think I can handle to walk inside the class on my own." She chirped in Japanese. Both boys looked at her, neither of them liking the fact that she had just stopped their staring contest. Naruto however, perked up at the sound of her voice. A foreign girl, huh, he thought slyly.

"I can speak Japanese too," he smirked. "Konnichiwa, Sakura." He was trying to impress her, but she wasn't going to fall for it. Sakura could speak in English almost as well as she could in Japanese. It was certainly better than her Spanish, that was for sure.

"I can speak English you know." Sakura told the blonde boy rather bluntly. She saw his face drop in disappointment, and instantly felt bad for being so rash. "Nice try anyway." She added, hoping he wouldn't take her words too hardly.

"Very well, Sakura-chan. I suppose I will see you in AP history tomorrow." Itachi said in Japanese, drawling out the suffix to her name. Her eyes thinned at his familiarity with her name, and if it weren't for the fact that she had an audience, she would have yelled at him for talking to her so comfortably. Again.

"Later, Itachi-kun." She answered him in the same mocking tone of voice. Itachi looked infuriated at how she had said his name like he was some sort of child, but before he could do anything about it, she had turned on her heels and entered Jiraya-sensei's classroom. The only person who ever dared to use that suffix with him was his mother, and even she wouldn't get away with it if she wasn't so downright scary. Sasuke felt content with how the scene had rolled out before him, and he promptly followed her into the classroom, Naruto close behind him. For him to have found a girl who was brave enough to face down his brother made him happy for reasons he couldn't explain. Thankfully, he would never have to.

After the embarrassing business of having to introduce herself to another room full of curious strangers, she found herself enjoying Jiraya-sensei's class. Because it wasn't a native English speaker, the school system hadn't allowed her to take the advanced placement class, but she was slightly glad for this. With the luck she had, she would probably end up in another excruciating class with Itachi, as he seemed to be the kind of person to be in only advanced classes.

Jiraya-sensei was, in Sakura's opinion, a little to much on the perverted side of things, but it made his classroom environment different, and therefore, interesting. The way he slipped in inappropriate remarks to the lesson often caused to class to roar with laughter, Sakura along with them. The only one who didn't seem to be joining in was a certain black haired boy with facial features all too similar to his brother's.

Sasuke's mind kept wandering endlessly around the topic of the pink haired mystery girl, positioned near the front of the class. Her laugh jingled along with every other student's, but hers seemed to stand out to him. He wasn't sure how he was able to pinpoint her voice amongst the rest, but somehow he had, and he found it to be irritably sweet in sound. This is completely absurd, he told himself. He hadn't yet even talked to the girl, and he was forming a crush on her. The fearless act of her calling his brother Itachi-kun had most definitely caught his attention, but it was mostly out of surprise that someone wasn't scared of him. It didn't matter though, if Itachi had any intentions involving the girl, he wouldn't get in the way. Itachi wasn't the kind of person to get in the way of, he was simply put, unstoppable. Itachi always got his way, no matter what it was about. If Sasuke stepped in the way, he knew he would be quickly cut down, and he didn't want to endure that kind of torture from his brother.

The class ended, and Sakura had to find her way to her next class, something that wasn't easy now that she didn't have any help. She hated to admit it, but it had been better when she walked to Jiraya-sensei's class with Itachi then how she was walking alone to her class with Kurenai-sensei. Though he had been a complete ass about it, Itachi's presence had scared people off, while now that she was alone, she had to fight her way to Kurenai-sensei's classroom. Another plus was that she wouldn't have gotten lost if someone had been kind enough to help her.

Itachi sat in the back of yet another tedious class. It was another advanced class, mathematics with Kurenai-sensei, and like everything else he was taking, too easy. He played with his lip ring, staring at the clock sitting on the wall, willing it to move faster. Not even a second before the tardy bell rang, a pink haired, green eyed girl dashed through the door, only just making it on time. Just my luck, I have another class with Sakura, he thought blandly. He poured himself over his finished work, trying his best to be invisible. If she was anything like he thought she was, she would take the seat next to him just to get on his nerves.

She introduced herself to the class, this time not bothered by the stares she recieved for her pink hair. Sitting down at an empty seat in the front, Itachi could have sworn he had heard her mutter 'take a picture, it'll last longer,' in Japanese. Amused by her irritation, he watched her take out a notebook and mechanical pencil in preparation for the class. It was only when he had been asked a question by Kurenai-sensei that he realized he had been staring at Sakura. Thankfully, Itachi had been prepared to answer her, otherwise it would have been known that he wasn't paying attention to his teacher, but to the new girl, of all people.

"C equals the square root of forty-nine; seven." He replied to his teacher without missing a beat.

"Correct, but please try to pay a little bit more attention, okay Itachi?" She asked him, her voice pained. Groaning inwardly, he gave a swift jerked nod in return. Damn Kurenai-sensei's perceptive, Itachi thought, slightly irked. She was the only teacher who ever bothered to tell him to pay attention in class, even though he had the top grades. It wasn't that his other teachers didn't notice him blankly staring into space as they went on with their lectures, it was just that they all knew he would get the best scores no matter what he did in the middle of class.

Sakura could feel someone glaring at her back, and she didn't have to turn around to know who it was. With the luck she harbored, Sakura hadn't been to surprised that Itachi was in this class with her, she wouldn't have been surprised if they shared half of their classes. Just because he had the same class as her again, didn't mean he had the right to stare at her with such fury. She had half the mind to turn around and tell him to stop looking at her, but she knew the ending result would be utterly chaotic. He would talk to her in his maddeningly perfect Japanese, probably insult her somehow, and cause her to erupt.

Yelling at a fellow student on the first day of a new school was not the best way to get to know people, especially the teachers. First impressions were vital, and having such rebelliously colored hair didn't help her with that. Sakura couldn't blame people for judging her, it wasn't like they knew she had some screwed up gene or something, but it only served to make things harder for her. So because of her confused genes she had linked Itachi staring at her with, Sakura suppressed the need to yell at him. He wasn't worth the trouble he would get her in.

He could tell that Sakura was anxious by the way that she tapped her feet noiselessly on the tile classroom floor, but Itachi couldn't figure out why. There was no way she could tell he was watching her so attentively, right? What was more, why did he care if his watching her bothered Sakura? Even more important, why was he watching her nervously take notes on Kurenai-sensei's lesson in the first place? She was just some new girl, and as infuriating as she was, she was completely insignificant to his life. She was just one amongst one thousand that he was going to school with. Someone he would hopefully never see again after he graduated and moved as far away as possible. She didn't matter at all.

Kurenai-sensei swiped her eyes across her room of students, finding that most of her students were hard a work with the equations she had given them to solve. All but Itachi were doing their assignment, which was unusual for him. His forehead was scrunched together as if he was deep in thought, his lips pressed together in frustration, and his eyes were clearly set on the new girl. She had half the mind to go right up to his desk and demand why he was looking at her so thoughtfully, but as a teacher, she had no right to intervene with a student's personal life. Itachi's eyes shut in distress, and he turned to his paper before his teacher could pry on him.

Even before the bell rang, Itachi gathered up his things and returned them to his bag, so that when it did ring, he could just stand up and leave. Sakura had noticed his desperation for him to get out of the class, to get away from her. This idea made her smile smugly, even though she knew her presence couldn't be the reason for him to want to leave so badly. She couldn't assume that she was so distracting to him, it would just be self centered and ignorant. Sakura did not matter to him, and Itachi sure as hell did not matter to her. It was stupid to think otherwise.

Before the pink haired pixie of a girl could shanghai him into helping her for a second time, Itachi made a dash for the door, causing much confusion for Sakura. Sure, it would have been nice to have someone more familiar with the school layout to guide her to her class, but she hadn't really been planning on asking him again. He was the moody kind of boy that everyone avoided, and though this made it easier to navigate through a crowded hallway, he was not someone she wanted to be associated with if she wanted to make some friends here.

After sighing in discontent, she left Kurenai-sensei's class for chemistry with Asuma-sensei. She didn't know the way, so she found her self wandering again, until she saw the boy with spiky black hair and smoothed bangs in his face. He was alone this time, the blond kid must have had a different class then him, and she had almost walked up to him to ask where the chemistry room was. Then she remembered the awful tension that had rose between him and his brother, and she got the impression that though the two brothers seemed to hate each other, they were probably more similar then they thought. He would be just as helpful as his older sibling, in other words, not very helpful at all.

When she finally managed to reach her class, she saw Itachi's brother sitting amongst the other students, and wanted to kill herself for not asking him for help. For what felt like the millionth time that day, she introduced herself to the class, and took whatever seat she found available. Some faces were familiar, like there was a blonde haired girl next to a dark purple haired girl, both of them giggling together. She was sure that they had been in her English class, so she was surprised to see someone her age in the class, as it was supposed to be advanced for seniors. Her eyes glazed the class one more time before sitting at her desk, and she saw, with frustration, none other than Itachi sitting in the far back corner of the room. His expression was livid.

To Itachi, it was bad enough he had a class with his younger brother, but now he was sharing a class with both of him and Sakura. She was becoming impossible avoid, and though he knew she wasn't in his classes intentionally, Itachi did nothing short of blame her for her interference. She was more distracting to him then his brother had been when they were younger and Sasuke had always demanded his attention. Hell, Itachi would have an easier time ignoring Orochimaru dancing around in a ballerina tutu then the short pink haired girl who was swarming his thoughts so infuriatingly.

There was only one seat still available in the class, and Sakura was thankful that it wasn't next to the fuming boy, but instead next to the blonde girl from her English class. Sakura quietly sat down, ignoring the looks of distaste she got from the girl.

"Who said little miss japan could sit next to me? I bet she can't even speak English." she sneered to her purple haired friend. The girl only nodded in agreement out of fear, that much Sakura could tell.

"I think I was the one who said I could sit next to you." Sakura told her innocently, even though the question hadn't been really directed towards her. The platinum blonde just looked at her in shock, both from the fact that she had understood her, and because the new girl had just talked back to her. Both girls turned to the front as Asuma-sensei began a lecture on the periodic table.

Sakura randomly doodled on her notebook, ignoring the glaring blonde, the mesmerized spiky black haired boy, his angered older brother, and only barely listened to the lesson Asuma-sensei was giving. She had already heard it all before, and saw no point in going over it with the class again. The bell rang, and Sakura quickly retreated to her locker to pick up her bento. The familiar box now in her hands, she searched the campus for a place she could eat with no interruptions.

Itachi stalked off to where he often went to hide during lunch, and was horrified to find that Sakura had found it before he could have gotten there. His bad day was going from bad to worse. The short girl sat on the tiled floor, an earphone in each ear, a continuous blare of drums and guitar disrupting the air around her. She sat with her knees drawn to her chest, showing too much of her silky white legs, and she was eating a bento. As soon as Itachi walked up to her, she looked up to send him a glare. Was he going to bother her during lunch?

"You're in my spot." he stated cooly. There was no way he was going to let her get away with it. As soon she heard his words, a more defined look of anger crossed her face. It wasn't like he owned the place, so why should she have to move to make way for him?

"I don't see your name on it." she finally said, her voice calm, despite her apparent anger. Itachi's eyebrow twitched with annoyance.

"Well, it is." he said, rather lamely. What was he supposed to do, pick her up and toss her? He obviously didn't want her there, and she wasn't taking the hint. He wasn't going to share his spot with anyone, even if they did manage to get him to do something.

"Well, I guess that's your problem. I'm not moving." Sakura retorted childishly. She continued to eat her bento, hoping that if she ignored him, he would just disappear. When he didn't, she grew more irritated. He sat down next to her, thinking maybe she would leave if he did so. She turned up the volume on her ipod, making it impossible for her to hear him anymore. He took out his own ipod, and started to blast his own music, which in the opinion of everyone he knew, was dark and depressing. Bring on the emo-ness, he chuckled to himself.

Anyone who had seen the two teenagers sitting together (well not together, they just so happened to be sitting within three feet of each other), they would have thought that they were friends. They simply ignored each other's existence. As soon as the bell rang, Sakura stood and quickly went to her next class, praying to god that Itachi wouldn't be in it. Thankfully, someone up in heaven must have heard her pleas and he wasn't. Sasuke, and his obnoxious friend Naruto, were.

"Ne, Sakura-chan~ can I sit next to you?" Naruto flirted openly. She smirked, finding it cute how he had used the suffix '-chan' with her name, even though he didn't speak japanese. That, she supposed, earned him a seat next to her.

"Sure, Naruto-kun." She replied, her english perfect. The boy smiled victoriously, shooting an all-knowing glance at his friend, who Sakura had almost forgotten was there. He seemed to be just as silent as his older brother, she mused.

"What about Sasuke-kun? Do you want to sit with me too?" Sakura addressed the boy in her teasing Japanese. The spiky haired boy looked at her in confusion, not getting that she had just been flirting with him.

"I suppose so," he nonchalantly answered. He took the seat on her right, as Naruto had already the seat to her left. The class slowly filed in, and the three of them sat together in an awkward silence. What do you say to a complete stranger? Sasuke didn't want to seem to be like the silent/scary/emo boy his brother was, but as if by nature, he acted the same way.

The only time Sakura saw Itachi in the remainder of the day was in the hallway on the way to her next, and thankfully, last period. They had glared daggers at each other, neither of them seemed to have forgotten lunch. This action did not go unnoticed, and people who had seen their cold interaction became slightly afraid of the new girl. She didn't look scary, in fact, she looked sort of frail, but for all they knew, she could be some sort of karate black belt.

It was her first day, and Sakura already decided that she hated the school transportation system they offered in America. It was rather breezy, and there she stood, with several other students, waiting for the bus to arrive. On they way to his car, Itachi saw her amongst many, waiting for the bus. He was glad to see her tortured in the wind, she had been torturing him through almost the whole day.

After parking his black Audi TT in the driveway, he silently went upstairs to his room, ignoring the plate of cookies on the table. The cookies were just another lure his mother would occasionally attempt to use on him into staying in the kitchen and not being antisocial in his room. She would undoubtedly try to find out how his day went, or if he made any new friends, or something along those lines. The only thing that would tempt him into staying downstairs was if she had placed a batch of dango on the table instead of the chocolate chip cookies, and she didn't know that. If she did, she would have put his favorite sweets out for him everyday.

Feeling rather moody, as he always did after a long day at school, Itachi closed the door to his bedroom and threw the album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge by one of his favorite emo bands, My Chemical Romance, into his CD player. He tossed his backpack onto his black colored bed, and lounged at his desk. Smirking at the darkly sung words, Itachi pulled out his secret sketchbook to finish a drawing he had begun earlier. He had two sketchbooks in his possession, one that he left out in the open, one he hid from sight. His mother knew he drew, but not exactly what he liked to draw. In the hidden sketchbook, most of the drawings were either too raunchy or too morbid for a mentally sane person, and were enough for his mother to start sending him to a shrink every week. Just what he would need, another crazed adult breathing down his neck, trying to push him into a future they saw fit for him. Hence the second sketchbook, filled with drawings of different still-lives, or portraits of strangers, or even the ever rare sketch of an anime character. It kept his mother from snooping about more than she did, that much was certain.

"Iiitaaachiiii!" he heard his mother's voice call over the violent guitar solo playing. Sighing, he finished the shading on a certain feather of a crow he was drawing, then returned it to it's respective hiding place, back into the hidden compartment he made in his desk. Just as one of his favorite songs started, he opened the door.

"What?" he answered grudgingly.

"Get down here, I'm not going to yell across the house!" His mother told him in a voice that left no room for arguments. Muttering strings of colorful words under his breath, he shut off the music and trudged to the living room downstairs. There sat his mother on one of the couches, and a cranky Sasuke next to her.

"Yes, Kaa-san?" Itachi mumbled just loud enough so that she could hear him.

"You, your brother and I are going to go introduce ourselves to the new neighbors down the road. So get changed out of your uniform, we're leaving in ten minutes." She said firmly, though he could tell what the underlining meaning of her words were. She wanted him to dress up as the perfect little son she wished he was. Like hell was he going to do that. After nodding his head to show he grasped her implications, Itachi returned to his room.

Without giving much thought to his wardrobe, he pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans with a studded belt and a black slipknot t-shirt he had recently acquired at his favorite, friendly neighborhood Hot Topic outlet. He went into the bathroom he shared with Sasuke and ran a comb through his long silky hair. Catching his reflection in the mirror, he chuckled darkly, knowing just the thing to top it all off. Itachi grabbed the black eyeliner he had left out that morning and reapplied it in a thick layer, not bothering to fix the smudges from his application early in the day (A/N: I don't care what anyone thinks, eyeliner on a guy is hot!!!!), as it created a nice grungy look.

Seeing his older brother's appearance once he had rejoined them downstairs, Sasuke smirked to himself. It wasn't precisely what his mother had wanted to see her son in, that was for sure. Their mother frowned slightly, but knowing better than to say anything, led her two sons out of the door. Their short walk down the street was quick and silent, much to everyone's gratification. Flanked by Itachi and Sasuke, and having the fresh batch of cookies that were so unappealing to Itachi before hand held in front of her, Mikoto rang the door bell.

It was quickly answered, and by a very displeased and surprised Haruno Sakura.