III Three

.

If Sasuke Uchiha was one thing, it was an asshole. A complete and utter ass. He was indifferent to most things, much like his older brother. No...it wasn't indifference. His eyes had always held resentment and arrogance. It was almost as if they held cruelty, as if he truly hated. Sakura couldn't help but muse over Sasuke's face as his brother smiled. Surprise, borderline absolute honest and wholehearted bewilderment, was an emotion she doubted she would ever see on the young Uchiha's face again. She had to savour it from the corner of her eye.

She'd heard about Itachi and his indifference towards everything, but she concluded herself that everyone was exaggerating about it, as she couldn't see the emotionless man they had described. It was more like...him shutting people out. Of course, she was also jumping to her own conclusions - not as extreme as others, but she concluded there had to be some lick of truth in what everyone around her said about him. Coupled with the fact that his own brother by blood held the same characteristics, it wasn't that far fetched by any stretch of the imagination.

The Eye Candy is, like...heartless.

The Eye Candy has never even heard of happiness.

It's okay, because he's the hottest thing to walk this planet.

It was just Ino and her silly stories. However...she did have to admit that Sasuke's surprise did add some weight to her arguments towards his aloofness. And so, she was complying as Ino asked to be 'filled in' as soon as she stepped into the classroom. Sakura wanted information, too, without having to directly ask, so talking to Ino was the best sure-fire way to hear some of her 'info'.

"You were in Itachi Uchiha's car...ugh, you were so close. How come you didn't jump him, girl?!" She asked in mindless disbelief. Best to play along with Ino's antics; talking with her was like walking on eggshells. You didn't know whether option A, or B would crack her.

"Self-control, Ino, self-control." She joked, which made Ino laugh. Good thing she knew she was joking. If she hadn't taken it jokingly, Sakura would never have heard the end of it - 'So you do like Itachi?' - as she would text everyone on her contact list. If people - specifically Ino's loud mouthed friends - thought she and Itachi were close, they would stop at nothing to become her best friend.

Quickest way to any eye candy is through his friends.

"God...he's so frickin' hot... What does he smell like?" And that made Sakura want to snigger. Sakura would tell Ino, and Ino would go and tell her friends that she knew what Itachi Uchiha smelt like because they'd gotten intimate...or something like that. She'd never understand.

"Uhh...I guess he smells... clean?" Ino's girly laughter could once again be heard. The professor never usually let them discuss things in groups, and hearing laughter was definitely not a sign of discussion. He sent them a look and Ino's laughter ceased.

"Well, I guess that's good. Most guys here have probably never heard of deodorant..." She usually disagreed with Ino. She actually did on this one. Ino would never know the feeling of actually training hard with men. There was just something...so masculine about it. That smell of masculinity was, however, only acceptable then. She'd hardly voice her opinions to Ino though. Because Ino always had to be right and also she wouldn't understand.

"Green tea." Sakura said whilst breathing deep and closing her eyes, trying to concentrate on the scent. She could almost feel Ino's confused expression watching her face. "He smells like green tea." She clarified for the bemused Ino.

"Ugh, he must be into Café-hopping and all that traditional stuff...I want, like, a manly man, you know?" Sakura had to bite her tongue to stop herself from saying some sort of snarky comment that Ino would either not get, or simply brush off. "Why are all the hotties dorks? Ugh...but goddamn, imagine under that shirt, Sakura. I would. I just would." She seemed to make some vaguely sexual noise before upturning her lips.

"Haha, I can only imagine." Sakura covered up her true inner turmoil with a smile. She really wanted to give Ino the ugliest face she had ever made and tell her everything about what she really thought.

'The Eye Candy' is the nicest, most genuine guy I've ever met. I'm sorry you're into assholes, but can you just stop being a bitch?

But she didn't. She continued to be subservient Sakura, who never spoke her mind for fear of the chaos that followed having an opinion.

"What? Do you like him or something?" Ino was a minefield. You thought you were agreeing, saying what she wanted to hear, but then she took it the wrong way. This time she would be careful where she would tread.

"Yeah, he seems pretty cool." Ino nearly face-palmed at what she thought was Sakura being oblivious. She was, however, simply dancing carefully around the topic. This was Ino she was talking to here.

"Gosh, Sakura, I mean do you think he's hot?" She rested her chin on her palm, chuckling and musing to herself, "Your innocence is so cute sometimes..."

"I suppose he's good looking, yeah." Ino seemed to look unimpressed and Sakura was glad. It was better to have Ino unimpressed than thinking that Sakura more than liked him. Because once Ino thought subject A was interested in subject B, she'd never shut up about it. However, it wasn't as if Sakura was lying. Itachi Uchiha was a generally very attractive man.

"Just good looking? C'mon forehead – the man's a sex god!" She was severely unimpressed with Ino's choice of words as she let her face deflate. Ino still liked to use her nickname from when she was twelve, and that reminded her – and she was sure it reminded other people too – about her mindlessness. Her 'I-love-Sasuke-kun'-ness. It had been scratching on her nerves a lot more than usual; her paranoia and almost-fear of people putting the words 'Haruno Sakura' and 'fangirl' into the same sentence. She didn't want it to be that way. She wanted 'independent', 'strong'.

Ino sighed at her before whispering to her in a serious questioning tone, "You guys have already had sex, right?" Sakura made a strange sound at Ino, and she looked confused. It was if the answer was going to be such a resounding 'yes' in Ino's mind that it was rhetorical to her.

"No, Ino. I have not had sex with him. I barely know him," her words coming out in a sterner manner than she would have liked. She shrugged it off and supposed it would help it get into Ino's head a bit better if she was completely straight with her answers.

"Well then, why aren't you trying to get into his pants, girl?! ITACHI UCHIHA'S BOXERS?!" A brief moment of silence allowed Sakura to comprehend the situation. Everyone, including the balding professor, was staring at them. Sakura pursed her lips together – there was simply a certain amount of Ino you could take per day. She held the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, hoping that everyone would stop looking at them. Correction, hoping that everyone would stop staring at her – Ino loved the attention, even if it came from things like discussing Itachi Uchiha's boxers.

"Ladies," the professor spoke out from the side of the room, "I'd rather you discuss why lobotomies should still be in practice than 'Itachi Uchiha's boxers'." He seemed to put emphasis on the word 'boxers'. He was trying to show them that it was certainly not an appropriate topic to discuss in class. But heck, Sakura didn't think it was an appropriate topic to discuss anywhere. She didn't want to know about, or be a part of, Itachi Uchiha's sex life. Or know about his boxers, as a matter of fact.

She could hear the sniggers and whispers of gossip beginning. Well, actually, the gossiping began that morning, as soon as she had stepped out of Itachi's car. In fact, no. Whilst she was still in the car people were talking. She couldn't care less about rumours. It's not as if they were true, anyway. But what she was most worried about was that people might think that she was just taking Itachi as an easy alternative to Sasuke. She could care, and would care, if anyone spread a rumour like that. She didn't want anything to do with the young Uchiha. When she had first started talking to Itachi, she hadn't even known he had anything to do with Sasuke. She would have preferred it that way, too – she wished she could have remained oblivious to the fact that they were not only related, but siblings.

Everyone seemed to laugh at the professor's words, including Ino, and all Sakura could do was nod and try to seem like she wasn't agitated. "Yes, Ino. Let's stop." Sakura told Ino, voice dripping with sarcasm. She was pretty sure that the other students in the room took it as though they weren't going to stop, but continue. She really didn't mean it like that.

But boy, it sure was going to be a long lesson.

She was right, and by the end of the lecture, her head was spinning. In her lunch was her water bottle, and she needed that now. She certainly couldn't wait any longer to eat.

She collected her books up and bid farewell to Ino, who walked off with everyone else from the lecture hall, taking no notice of the pinkette standing off to the side of the door, waiting to be picked up for lunch.

Everyone had left and she enjoyed the silence, it made her headache let up a little. She contemplated her lunch with Itachi, feeling annoyed with herself that he was paying. She felt like she was taking what he was doing for granted. She just didn't know how to say thank you, and he wasn't taking no for an answer.

And of course, she wanted him to know she was eternally grateful for the small gestures, his metaphorical hand reaching out. She felt that if they kept going, they may have ended in an endless cycle of favours for each other.

The favours were one thing, but it still seemed too placed - too calculated - for Sakura. The hand that was reaching out seemed less like Itachi returning the favour and more like a seeking of… what? Friendship? Which was still pretty unbelievable in her mind. If Sasuke had ever made any effort with her, it was the effort he made to make sure she knew she wasn't worthy of much, if anything at all.

She looked up from her thought processes and saw a figure coming down the hall.

Shit. Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

She pulled out her phone from her jean pocket and began browsing it without intent, hoping her diverted attention would be noticed. The figure stopped beside her, but she still didn't look up from her phone. She didn't want to converse with this man. Man? He was still a childish boy in her eyes. Why did she have to be thinking of his spiteful self only to have him show up? Was he showing up because he saw her with his older brother? Probably, as he had made no effort in the past years to even nod to her - not that she wanted even an ounce of his attention.

"Sakura." He addressed, attempting to get her attention. She sighed before acknowledging him, still not looking up from her phone.

"Uchiha-san." Her tone was level, not giving a false impression that she was hungry for his presence. She had completely distanced him with her use of his family name.

"Pretending to text, are we?" He raised an eyebrow at her, and she bit her lip, trying to refrain from biting out at him.

"What do you want?" She locked her phone before sliding it neatly into her pocket, still not looking at him, still biting the inside of her lip.

"Why won't you look at me?" He asked her, in either agitation or sadness. Definitely the former in her book. In defiance, she looked directly up into his eyes. She couldn't remember the last time she had had a conversation, let alone made eye contact with the man-child. Although she could vaguely remember the last conversation being not a conversation, instead a heated argument in which she told him to never speak to her again. He was breaking that mutual agreement now, asking pointless questions.

"What do you want?" She asked in clear annoyance, not taking her eyes off of him. He didn't look taken aback at her dry attitude, which meant he definitely understood the fact he was breaking their unspoken law.

"Stay away from my brother." He told her, point blank. Not sure how to react to that, she merely glared for a few moments at him. Was he still trying to control her life to this extent? She wasn't sure if she was offended or very curious as Sasuke ordered her. Curiosity prevailed as she questioned him.

"What are you talking about?" She shook her head, wishing she'd never accepted his offer to 'converse'. She could see this conversation turning sour, very quickly.

"Just..." he gritted his teeth together, looking something akin to annoyed, "He's dangerous, okay?" Sakura looked unconvinced and unruffled by his words before he added on to his statement.

"I don't want to see you get hurt."

And that was it. For her, she was done. The sound erupted, letting loose the cascade of cackling, dry laughter. She dived into hysterics, her stomach muscles tightening, contracting, so much that it began to hurt. She cracked up, cracked open – him. Sasuke Uchiha – what a funny, flippant man-child.

She calmed down enough to look at his face. The best thing about it was, his face was deadpan, and almost annoyed that she was laughing.

"What is this? Some sort of joke?" She asked, a sardonic smile still plastered to her face, showing her pure mirth at his statement.

"What? Why would I be joking?" Oh, he was angry, Sakura mused. Even better.

"Why do you care about what I do?" She shook her head again. This was too much.

"Why do you keep answering a question with a question?" He snapped at her. She quirked an eyebrow at him.

"You did it first." She folded her arms, body language displaying her desire to distance herself from him. "Why do you care about what I do?" She once again repeated, slowly for the man-child. When he didn't reply, simply looked away, she continued. "You never gave a shit about my existence before. So why the sudden change in attitude? If this is some sort of attempt at redemption, you're a little late. Or if this is because you don't want your brother–"

"It's not like that!" He snapped again, interrupting her. Sakura shook her head for the third time, in disgust. She grabbed her bag from where she'd left it on the floor and proceeded to turn away. He reached out for her wrist before she was able to go.

"Wait, Sakura. Let me just ex-!" Before he could finish speaking, Sakura moved. Twisting sharply, she cut him off. His grunt proved that she was not lacking in force, with his arm pinned to his back, he should have been feeling it.

"I swear to god. I cut you out of my life for a reason. If you do not leave me alone, I swear, by the gods, I will break your fucking arm, Uchiha." She seethed at him. So much for the good mood. "Do you understand?"

"I do." He told her through closed teeth, trying to cope with the pain of having his arm twisted at an unnatural angle. "But please, I'm asking for a minute to explain." Sakura let go and once again folded her arms over her chest. She raised her eyebrows expectantly, as if telling him he had a single minute. "He may play the nice guy act, but I swear to you now, he's evil and will do anything to appease our father. He'll play with you until my father isn't happy that he's seeing an outsider and will cut all ties to you. I don't–"

"That's enough." She told him, and when he made another attempt at opening his mouth, she shut him off again.. "I've heard enough. Please keep your possessiveness to yourself and continue walking." He looked at her pleadingly, but she was having none of it and sent him a glare. He sighed before giving her a shallow bow and continuing on down the hall, tenderly touching his wrist and elbow whilst giving them a little shake. Before he was completely out of earshot, she called out to him, "It's Haruno-san." He glanced back, and Sakura could almost swear she saw a pang of hurt in his eyes. Good. He had given up the right to call her by her first name long ago.

She tried to suppress the absolute anger welling up inside of her, the feeling of satisfaction completely dwindling into nothing. Sasuke shouldn't have had such an effect on her. She promised herself years ago that she would become absolutely indifferent to his very existence. And yet...this feeling. It was so strong and overpowering, like she needed to destroy him entirely.

She couldn't even believe she had snapped like that. She had never done that to anyone in her life, but it felt right to do at the time. It felt like her instincts taking control of her entire body as if she should have been defending herself from an attacker, like fight or flight drove her into autopilot. Except Sasuke wasn't an attacker and she wasn't defending herself. It was just pure anger, intimidation. It was also evil of her, she supposed, to have used her martial arts knowledge on him. But heck, it wasn't as if she knew what he was doing with himself - he might've been a practitioner too.

She felt a tickle on her cheek, and with all the shock, humiliation and anger at herself being so pathetic, she found that a tear was the cause of the light fleeting tickle. She couldn't believe herself, feeling such an overwhelming sense of anger that she had lost control of her emotions. She could only compare it to how some people laughed at funerals, having let go of the steering wheel. She was angry, so why was she so pathetic as to cry? She bit down on the inside of her cheek so hard that she soon tasted blood. She was just angry at herself.

Letting Sasuke tear her down so many times over the years was something she vowed she would never let be repeated. Yet here she was. In the middle of a hallway in university, letting her emotions get the better of her once more. Could she have chosen a more public place? She shook her head, scrubbing at her face with a rigour she had also not intended. She needed to breathe, to be calm.

So caught up in the whirlwind of her feelings, she did not hear the set of footsteps approaching.

"Haruno-san?" She recognised the voice immediately and thanked herself that she wasn't sobbing.

This was when she needed to force her composure, no matter how mad she may have looked. She didn't need him knowing. She had to breathe deep, force the turmoil to the back of her mind and allow the clarity back in.

Fake it until you make it.

"Uchiha-san. I wasn't expecting you… so - so early." She rubbed her arm sheepishly, trying to forget the tightening of her throat and rising heat throughout her body.

"Are you alright?" He seemed to ignore her attempt at reassurance (albeit it was definitely a poor attempt).

She laughed at his expression before continuing, "Yeah, I know I probably look like an idiot, but I just had an eyelash in my eye." She continued to rub her eye for effect but Itachi did not look convinced in the slightest.

"In both of them?" He questioned, as if trying to catch her out. She definitely hadn't expected the Uchiha to chase her up on it. She smacked her lips before replying in a slightly sarcastic manner.

"Yes." Stating the affirmative flatly, she smiled slightly wrly, sans unkindly, at him. He didn't seem as if he wanted to press the issue as his eyebrows raised minutely.

Biting down on her lip and trying to look anywhere but at him, she let the moments pass by, unable to escape the crushing anxiety she felt in the moment and certainly unable to think of anything plausible or worthwhile to say.

"Sorry." Shaking her head once more, she proceeded with the only thing she could say that would make sense.

Sorry that I'm crying in public. Sorry that I'm bringing down your mood.

"Would you like me to go?" Expression falling deeper, she was still unable to look up at him.

The more time she let pass by, the awkwarder she surmised he would find her. The first time someone was actually interested in a friendship with her and she managed to all but scare them off in the first week.

Slowly, and completely unsure, she raised her head to meet him. Shock, was her initial reaction - to seeing that he wasn't weirded out and finding her strange and complex in that moment. No... it looked more like… concern, care? She hadn't expected him to be even engaging with her in the slightest, but to see him with that facial expression was something she couldn't tear her eyes from.

Her thoughts, completely wicked and self deprecating, were as if Sasuke had spoken them himself. No, she didn't want him to go. She didn't want this to fail.

"I wouldn't." She shook her head, before laughing lightly, more to reassure herself than anything else. Seeing his facial expression soften was somewhat comforting to her. Although she knew that she couldn't continue like this again, with her emotions taking a complete grip on her, she nonetheless appreciated Itachi's reaction to it.

"In that case, can I walk you to lunch?" Once more, she chuckled, alleviating any signs of concern from the Uchiha and causing his lips to tug gently. Overall pure politeness at any time, every time.

Daring - a completely bold move - she lightly bumped him as she took off from against the wall. He received it in jest and they fell into motion with one another.

"I guess you can."

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the other franchises, etc., mentioned.

A/N:: Hello again.

Shock horror at the world rn. Thoughts?

Reviews keep me writing :)

–xl3utterflyx