Chapter 1: A bad idea

"So you're telling me, that the guy you're interested in, you've been spying on him for the past two weeks?" Sakura began, gaping incredulously and a little disapprovingly at Ino.

Well… she didn't exactly think anyone would bestow their blessings on her as Ino used her professional investigating skills for recreational purposes. Yes, the blonde girl seated across from her reinstated best friend was a private investigator, just like her father before her, and this meant that she had a nice stream of cases coming in. They were usually from individuals and agencies to hire her to spy for their businesses, as well as suspicious spouses, which wanted her to search for evidence against their partners so that they had viable grounds for divorce.

They were sat in a well-lit, cosy café, artful pictures of coffee, tea and food decorated the walls. Sakura savoured the scent of her vanilla chai before taking a small sip. Ino was ravenous and had finished her tea, croissant and was making headway into her salad right about now as she regaled her with her latest exploits.

"Oh it's not even proper spying, just casually tailing him from work and figuring out his schedule. It's not like I've done a CRB check on him or anything!" Ino retorted defensively, thinking she was being incredibly saint-like for not doing that until she had officially said hello to him (but it didn't mean she wasn't planning it…).

Meanwhile, her pink-haired friend was pinching the bridge of her nose, something she did to ward off oncoming headaches, usually caused by the fair-haired girl who had a bad history with men in the romantic sense. And it didn't really take a genius to figure out why! Yamanaka Ino was seriously spying on some innocent man who she had no right to, tailing him, recording his schedule, checking who he talked to, what he did in his free time, where he worked, who he hung around with… all because the woman said she couldn't get his smile out of her mind. Sakura personally thought you couldn't start a healthy relationship like that, but Ino was as wilful as a princess and did whatever she wanted.

"Remember what happened with Sai?"

Ino's face briefly clouded over. Yes, she did remember what had happened with that enigmatic Fine Art student from Kyoto University.

"If it wasn't for that baby-faced Sasori-Masori, I'd have been perfectly okay!" Ino pointed out, glaring as she remembered her least favourite redhead right now.

Thankfully, the topic of their mutual enemy seemed to bring Sakura back into her good spirits. She had recently been stressed with exams and her new internship at the hospital, but the pinkette had passed her ordeal for now and told Ino to tell her of this mystery man - who still had no idea that he had a rather obnoxious stalker.

"So, how did you two meet?" Sakura began, taking a sip of her tea and glancing at her friend, who was probably imagining Sasori as she stabbed her fork in the salad and plucked out an olive.

"Well, we haven't met properly yet. I'm planning on meeting him-" By that, Ino meant that she would stage a meeting with him where she would appear in her best light and then continue these little bumps until he'd feel compelled to ask her out "- outside his school. He's a teacher-"

"A TEACHER?" Sakura squawked, wondering what Ino was thinking. "Ino!" Sometimes, she wanted to shake her friend. Really, really hard.

"He's really young, he graduated university early!" Ino added quickly, hoping to mollify the stricken girl before her. "And before you ask, I know this because his name is on the staff list of the school website which is public information. I didn't steal it. But I met him two weeks ago, believe it or not, at Tsunade-Sensei's clinic. I was coming to see you when I saw the wallet and hurried to the man who had dropped it. He was really grateful, smiling so- oh Kami-Sama, he has such a lovely smile! That was what drew me in!"

And the fact that he was a black-eyed beauty. But if she told Sakura that, then the other girl would get interested and possibly steal her man. Not that he was her man. Yet. No, this wasn't just a paranoia that Ino suffered, it happened all the time. Like with Sasuke, then with Sai and even Sasori. All the men she had pursued, they always ended up being liked by Sakura as well. It wasn't really Sakura's fault, she just tended to like the same type of boys that Ino liked. And Ino didn't like trampling all over Sakura's heart so ended her pursuit for them. But that didn't mean that she didn't like the boys… she did, but she just Sakura over them and it resulted in a mess and all sorts of complications.

She hated love triangles.

So that was why, when Sakura asked for the mystery man's name, Ino averted her gaze and lied. It was a terrible lie because the first thing you learn about a client is their name.

"Why don't you want to tell me?" Sakura arched a quizzical brow, far too sharp to let Ino's lie slide. "Maybe he's a patient here and I could hook you up with a legitimate meeting."

That would be terrible! Imagine if he was already crushing on the lipstick-haired intern and wanted to only get close to Ino just so that he could understand Sakura? Because that had happened before and it wasn't a really nice feeling. Ino shook her head. She wasn't so woebegone that she needed Sakura's help- who was also a loveless loser by the way, despite having the attention of idiots who regularly liked becoming hospitalised just to see her. Ahem, Uzumaki Naruto and Rock Lee.

"No. I'm going to do this perfectly this time. I've got my role worked out to the finest detail, I've even bought the clothes and everything."

…

Sakura looked grim. When Ino mentioned the word 'role', it certainly wasn't good. Seriously… what scheme was she planning this time so that she could garner this man's attention- and was he even worth it!

"Ino… remember the last time you posed as a Fine Art student just to get Sai's attention?"

Ino slammed her chopsticks down. "Why do you keep bringing Sai-San into this? I'm over it! Besides, being an art student was easy until he asked to see my portfolio. And then got shirty that I thought Picasso sucked at drawing. Oh please, Sakura, it's true! Asuma-Sensei's two year old can draw better than Picasso could and she just scribbles!"

Sakura rolled her eyes, but a smile was threatening to burst from her lips. "Fine fine… what's your role? Let's see how believable it really is."

"Well, since he's a teacher, I'm going to be a teacher too!"

The feeling of wanting to shake Ino hard was coming back very soon. "What is she thinking?"

"Ino, he'll realise you're not a teacher very, very soon. Especially as you work part-time at the flower shop."

"Oh no, I'm a supply teacher. I bought teacher clothes already. I have long, boring skirts, all creamy and mumsie-styles with sweaters and blouses. I already look three times less attractive so he won't be intimidated by my good looks."

Ino's ego, currently occupying the land mass of Russia, made Sakura roll her eyes once more and imperceptibly shake her head. She could give her reckless friend a million reasons why this relationship was doomed, but Ino wasn't going to listen to her at all. Sakura wasn't convinced, even though her blue-eyed friend insisted that everything would be just fine.

"Well, my break's over… just… let me know how your first meeting goes. And if you feel like telling me about this mystery man's name," Sakura added, pulling on her labcoat as she slid out of her seat.

Ino nodded followed Sakura out of the café, but both were heading to separate destinations. Sakura to the hospital and Ino, after a quick change at home into a cream-coloured skirt and navy sweater (it was so boring she wore her usual silver, studs for earrings) had made her direction to the school that he worked.

It was three o' clock right now, so she had fifteen minutes to puncture a tyre from his bike (he was an eco-friendly individual), casually drive by as the raven-haired man, balancing a book and a file in one arm, stood to inspect the damage. She rolled down her car's window and called him to attention.

"Ah… excuse me, I was just covering for Kurenai-Sensei who is on maternity leave and was wondering how to get out of this car park. I'm just a little lost and I was coming around to ask some students but they ran off as soon as they saw me," Ino said in an embarrassed tone of voice as she glanced over at the dark-haired man. And then her eyes caught sight of his bike she rearranged her expression into one that looked appropriately aghast at the deflated tyre.

"Oh, Kami-Sama… so that's what those boys were doing! I'm sorry I didn't stop them sooner! Is your house far away?"

Ino already knew where he lived, which was a ten minute drive from here, twice as long by bike, but she didn't think he would appreciate that. He merely offered her his usual, polite smile, the one he had given her when she had handed him his wallet two weeks ago and she could see that there was faint recognition glimmering in his dark eyes.

"Not too far," he answered politely and had already told her that if she made a left at the first exit near the gates, she would be out on the main road.

He didn't tell her where he lived though. In fact, he walked off and headed down to the bus stop on the street, glancing at his watch and stood patiently with all the rowdy kids that surrounded him (and pretended to behave because a teacher was with them).

It hadn't been part of her plan to let him escape. He ought to have come with her in the car and would have dropped him home, perhaps a tentative invitation for tea or something for doing another favour for him. But she didn't want to seem too eager right now because that tended to frighten boys. Like Sasuke.

So the next day, whilst his bike was sent for repairs and she knew he was getting the bus back home, she got in to the same bus, three stops down from the school and upon spotting him, she offered him a nod and a casual smile (because this wasn't staged at all), and he returned her nod with his own from the book he was reading until he realised that there were no more seats left on the bus and stood up to let her sit down.

"Ah, you didn't have to-"

"It's alright," he smiled amiably at her, marking the page of his book with one hand whilst the other curled around the orange, metal railing as he stood. He looked so serene, standing still even when the bus jerked from its stop and swerved round the corner.

"Thank you," Ino added, offering him a winning smile, glancing at him. "You're the sensei from yesterday, aren't you? Ah, Yamanaka Ino," she offered him a nod and he glanced away from the window, back to the blonde whose hair was in a bun.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Uchiha Itachi."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Itachi-San," she smiled.

Unfortunately, even though Itachi told her that it was nice to meet her, he didn't really say anything else. He didn't invite her for lunch, ask her for coffee or even engage her with conversation. He just answered her with short, simple responses and left it at that.

…

Maybe the teacher clothes were just too unattractive and weren't doing it for him? She furrowed a brow as she watched him get off the bus. Well… that could have gone better than expected.

-x-

Throughout the week, Ino staged many such 'coincidental' encounters with him, meeting him at various places in town, when he was shopping, when he was letting the cat in and even when he was around his tousle-haired friend (he only ever seemed to have one).

It was perhaps when she joined him in the public library at the weekends, conveniently holding The Duma Key by Stephen King, a book that she knew he liked (but she'd only skimmed through) that he opened up a little more to her.

"Don't you feel sorry for Perse? She's the one whose truly cursed," Ino began, hoping that an alternative view might help him converse a little more.

However, what she got was a lot more than little conversation and she almost lost the thread because she hadn't really read the book as enthusiastically as Itachi.

However, he finished it on a note that Perse was not meant to be felt sorry for.

"She was an entity that brought death and tragedy to everyone in the book. It's not the author's intention to make us feel bad for her. That is why he destroyed the Duma Key in the end."

…

Ino hadn't got that far in the book but she nodded along and she wondered if he swallowed any of her lines on metaphors about similarities to human lives and stuff. Well, she was meant to be a supply teacher, not a Nobel laureate.

However, after she got a hold of his bookshelf and the sorts of things he liked, which was no easy feat for he didn't really have a social networking account like facebook, that was where she managed to gather his interest.

And then she finally completed the full search on him, but what she found surprised and shocked her at once. So much so, that she rang Sakura again.

"Sakura! You'll never believe this but you know the mystery man? He's Sasuke-Kun's brother!"

There was a slight pause on the other end, probably taking in the revelation with deep, measured breaths.

"Well, he told you his name, right?"

"Yeah, Uchiha Itachi… but Uchiha is a common surname, isn't it? Like Tanaka, Nakamaru, Uchiha," Ino listed off, unable to believe that out of all the Uchiha in Japan, it had to be a relation the one that she had liked and fought for all those years ago. Not only that, it was a relation that she would see often.

"Oh."

Oh? Was that all Sakura could say? OH?

Shouldn't she be getting all in a tizzy and shocked and surprised about it? This was a rather anticlimactic reaction.

"Well… I don't think it's a good idea to go for him, Ino," was all Sakura told her, and then the phone went dead, leaving Ino wondering why it was a bad idea.

Because his CRB check was squeaky clean.

Author's Notes:

For Mel & Cat. Because I adore them.