Title: The Civilian

Author: Lady Wisiaden

Rating: T

Summary: Everyone knows that the shinobi life is dangerous, adventurous and thrilling. But everyone also tend to forget the less exciting side of the coin. That is until Haruno Sakura makes it everyone's business. AU, Non-massacre

Pairings: Sakura/Itachi

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing!

A.N. Just trying an idea out. First chapter is slow, but setting up. Perhaps more excitement in the next chapter. Please enjoy reading.

Chapter One

"What do you want, Pinky?"

Sakura slowly exhaled, trying to calm herself down. The anger that was quietly and surely rising ebbed away a little. The fat pudgy excuse of a chunnin was testing her patience. If only she could punch him.

"My name is not Pinky," she forcefully grinded out between her clenched teeth. Ah, her anger didn't go away as much as she had thought.

"It's Haruno Sakura. Please inform Shizune-sama that I am here for our meeting as I have already told you."

The chunnin eyed her, studying her carefully. Sakura didn't flinch as the contempt leaked from his face upon noticing her shockingly pink hair—genetic defect—and the blatantly obvious civilian clothes she wore. Then, the man had the nerve to said, "She's not in at the moment. Come back another day."

It was all a bunch of bullshit, Sakura saw the woman entered the building not fifteen minutes before she had arrived.

"Come back another day?" She repeated.

"It means," the chunnin draw out slowly as if she was stupid, "that you go away and come back again."

Sakura noticed it that he didn't say when Shizune-sama would be in. She lost it. She slammed her hands down on the wooden desk with as much strength as she could muster.

"Come back another day? I just saw her. Now, would you please inform her that I am here. The meeting is at 2"—she flicked her gaze at the shoddy clock on the wall—"and you have delayed me by fifteen minutes already."

The chunnin laughed, "Or you'll do what, Pinky? Besides, it doesn't look like you're injured. Even if you were, you can go to your hospital. Why should our medics waste their chakra healing a civilian like you?"

And Sakura wilted. There really wasn't a thing that she could do. She didn't have chakra. She wasn't a kunoichi. She was only a civilian. But she would be damned if she gave up like that.

"I'm a doctor," Sakura said. She withdrew her hands from the desk, frowning that she couldn't even make a dent in it. Oh well, there were other means.

"And I've told you that I'm here for a meeting. However, if you'll like to delay my meeting with Shizune-sama any more than you've already have, feel free."

She slowly turned away from the desk and headed for the door, a mocking sway with her hips.

"Although, I am curious if she has inherited any of the Hokage's traits as rumored."

The door slammed shut with a loud bang. Sakura didn't need to see to know the panic most likely sweeping across the chunnin's mind. 'Underestimate me, will you?' she thought smugly. Not for the first time, Sakura was glad she decided not to become a shinobi. Not if she turned out like that idiot.

Then,with a sigh, Sakura deflated and squared her shoulders before making her way through the half empty street, heading back to the civilian district. Above her, black blurs passed overhead. They were shinobis, probably reporting for a mission and whatnot. The ones on the ground shot looks of bewilderment and sneers at her that she couldn't miss. It just wasn't normal for a civilian to be in the shinobi district unless one was requesting for some shinobis for assistance or asking repartition for property damage caused by a shinobi. Sakura quicken her steps. It wasn't a very pleasant atmosphere.

However, Sakura slowed down a little a short while later. Right now, she was on the outermost edge of the line—the line being the food district. The food district was what divided the civilian and shinobi districts. In fact, it was the only part of Konoha where civilians and shinobis could even mingle a bit peacefully. Nudging that thought aside, she smiled. The outermost edge of the line was also where the shinobi training grounds were located. It was an odd placement, putting a training ground that close to the civilian district, but Sakura didn't question it that much. It was the civilians who lived the furthest away from the line who were most hostile and vice versa for the shinobis who lived the farthest away from the line.

As she breathed in the healthy air into her lungs, Sakura casually watched the shinobi training out of the corner of her eye. She didn't know his name, but she knew he was an Uchiha. The dark hair gave it away, though his was tied into a low ponytail. And of course, the most obvious was the Uchiha's crest—a red and white fan. He was quite handsome, she mused. However, what made her really wanted to grin, aside from the sight, was the blue clothed wrapped bento box on the ground nearby.

"Sakura-san!"

She paused mid-step and saw Maso oba-san making her way up. Her hair was a fine grey in a heavy bun held with a single ivory hair stick. Sakura backtracked towards the elderly woman. Kimonos could be quite restricting.

"Oba-san," she greeted. "How are you doing? Were you shopping?"

Sakura immediately relieved the woman of her many packages.

"Thank you dear, but you didn't need to worry about my elderly bones," Maso oba-san replied and gave Sakura a hug. She smelled faintly of cookies.

Then, she nodded her head at the shinobi training, "Is that one of the honorable Uchihas?"

Sakura inclined her head.

"It is. Although I do not know who he is exactly, but then they all start to look the same."

Maso oba-san chuckled, "How true. All of them dark haired and stoic—or should I say stoned? Except for that one Uchiha I saw the other day. His name started with a Shi or something. Only one that looked even remotely cheerful!"

They slowly walked together, and Maso oba-san easily dominated the conversation in her way. Sakura was careful not to let her gaze linger at the shinobi and pay attention to the granny. She didn't want to give Maso oba-san the wrong idea. And the idea would be even more compounded if the old lady knew what she was doing. Though, it was quite an accident really.

Lately, her trips into the shinobi district had increased as she steadily gained influence in the civilian district. As the top doctor and head of the civilian hospital, Sakura was required to see the shinobi administration every now and then for supplies. Since, the shinobi regulated the trade and goods coming in and out of Konoha, the civilians couldn't get anything without submitting the proper forms and going through the legal procedures. Regulations had only increased recently which made her trips more troublesome, and Sakura had a feeling that something big was happening. It could be a war, but it wasn't like the civilians would be informed. It did aggravated her that she had to take more trips than necessary into the shinobi district, but Sakura didn't have the power to meet with the Hokage herself, not to mention that she was a civilian—a position with little room for demands.

In any case, it was during one of those trips that she happened on the training Uchiha. He was lying in the street, unconscious and bleeding profusely. Somehow, she managed to drag his heavy form to the shinobi hospital. Of course, she couldn't enter the building, but the man was safely deposited in good healing hands. And of course, it was not like the man knew her. Still, she didn't fail to see him training whenever she entered the line from the outermost edge. She was moved by his dedication. Then, one day, she observed that he sometimes went without lunch just to train. Was he an idiot? The doctor in Sakura couldn't keep still. So, she started to discreetly deposit a well packed bento at the site for him. The first few times, he didn't eat it. She knew because the box was still full when she retrieved it late at night. Eventually, the Uchiha gradually accepted the box. It was all in good fun on her part. If he knew who left it, he gave nothing away.

"Sakura?"

She flushed. She was so absorbed in her thoughts she had totally ignored Maso oba-san.

"Sorry," Sakura apologized. "I was just thinking."

Maso oba-san was amused.

"I can see that Sakura, especially since you're about to walk past my house despite the fact you've been here many times."

"Here, let me open the gate," Sakura said, rushing to hide her growing embarrassment.

Maso oba-san laughed, but allowed Sakura to do as she wished. Once they were inside, the packages put away and a cup of tea in each of their hands, Maso oba-san became serious.

"Now, I assume you were in the shinobi district when I came upon you?"

"Yes, Oba-san, I was," Sakura admitted. "It didn't turn out well."

Maso oba-san only gave a slight hum.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I was just so happy that I finally wrangled a meeting with Shizune-sama—I didn't think that I wouldn't even get to see her!"

Sakura set her cup down with a little more force than she intended. Her short rant did nothing to make her feel better.

"What is the council going to say?"

"They'll be like they always be," Maso oba-san said. She refilled Sakura's cup.

"The council and I understand. The only one that is trouble is Old Turnip."

Then, she clucked her tongue in disapproval. Old Turnip was the only member on the civilian council that actively disapproved with Sakura's actions. He firmly believed that the civilian and the shinobi should be kept separate. He didn't think there was a chance of blending the two worlds together.

"Besides," Maso oba-san added, "the fact you've even managed to get a meeting accounts for something. I can't recall the last time one of them even deign to meet with one of us civilian."

Sakura nodded, but she was still feeling guilty. This meeting was only one step of many on the civilians' part to gain a bigger voice in Konoha. It was terrible how little voice the civilians had considering that they more than outnumbered the shinobis in the village.

"I shouldn't have lost my temper and waited it out, but it was so frustrating," Sakura admitted. Then, she shook her head.

"When's the next meeting?"

"The end of the week," Maso oba-san said, peering over her cup at Sakura with a knowing look.

"I'll go back tomorrow," Sakura promised, though she couldn't say anything about the bastard of a chunnin.