Author's Note: Soooo...first off, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE LOVE, YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE. I am truly so happy to still see so much support for this story, so thank youuuu!

Secondly, I am super sorry for the wait. You all are probably very tired of hearing that, but please know that I'm truly sorry.

And lastly, the following chapter is really just a set-up chapter for all the shenanigans I have planned for the next exciting installment~

"Okay, Forehead," Ino squared up to her shell-shocked friend, "I know you're having fun keeping me in suspense like this. And I know that you've apparently become mute now, but you need to say SOMETHING BECAUSE IT'S BEEN TWO HOURS."

Taking pity on her best friend, Sakura looked blankly ahead as she confessed, "I am engaged…"

Ino blinked. And blinked. And then blinked again. Her mouth opened and closed a couple times, too. Sakura couldn't help but to conclude that her friend was secretly a goldfish in disguise. She was probably secretly aligned with the Land of Water like all the other fish people. But then again, Sakura reconsidered, Ino's memory was far too lasting to be a goldfish. That girl never seemed to forget anything, especially if it was something that embarrassed Sakura. Well then, Sakura grimly concluded, this will be something she definitely won't forget.

"I left you alone with your crush for not even an hour and now you're getting married?!" The blonde finally broke out of her silent spell.

"Ah, no," Sakura tonelessly moved to correct her, "I am engaged in battle with Uchiha Itachi."

Ino went back to her blinking and gaping routine as she processed this new information. Apparently, the possibility of her best friend fighting the Uchiha heir was much easier to accept, because it didn't take the blonde as long before she re-entered interrogation mode.

"Okayyy," Ino tried to process this new information, "Correction: I left you alone with your crush for not even an hour and now you're mortal enemies?"

At Sakura's resigned nod, Ino exploded with exasperation, "You were supposed to make love, not war!"

"I am a fighter, not a lover," the kunoichi defended.

"Just – " Ino cut herself off to make frantic hand gestures, "Out with the whole story. Tell me everything. I need to know what we're up against here."

"We?" Sakura asked, a little dumbfounded.

"Well, I mean," the other girl trailed off, a bit flustered suddenly, "I'm not going to let you fight by yourself."

"Inoooo~" the pinkette cried out, dramatically clutching at her heart, "You do care!"

"Hey, hey," the pinkening Yamanaka chastised, "Stop blubbering and get on with your story."

And so, Haruno Sakura proceeded to fill her friend in on how she had waged war on the Uchiha heir over something as silly as sweets.

"Just putting this out there," Ino interrupted Sakura's battle plans, "But now that I've heard the full story, that actually sounds a lot like flirting." Seeing her friend about to object, she quickly tacked on, "In a weird way. Because you are weird, very weird people."

"Even Uchiha-san?" Sakura questioned. She could understand her friend aiming the insult at her, but not at the respectable anbu captain.

"Especially him," Ino affirmed, "Just because he's hot, doesn't mean he's not weird. They aren't mutually exclusive traits. Honestly, hot and weird seems to be the norm for his entire family. It's no wonder Mikoto-sama's after you. You'd fit right in."

"First off," Sakura huffed, raising her hand to begin a countdown, "Rude. So rude. Mikoto-chan –"

"Wait, Mikoto-chan?"

"Yes, Mikoto-chan, because we're close," she explained quickly, "is the sweetest person alive. And Itachi-san is a polite, well-mannered man. And – and they should be talked about with respect."

"You didn't say anything to defend your teammate or his father," Ino pointed out with a smirk.

Sakura made an innocent face at the accusation, which only made Ino chortle. Instead of calling her out further, the latter only motioned for her friend to make her next point.

"And second," she made a peace sign with her hands, "Did you just imply that I'm hot?"

Ino began to grumble, "I also implied you were weird. No wait," her nose wrinkled in remembrance, "I straight up said that, right? I have told you that you're weird today, too, right?"

"Yes, Piggie," Sakura sighed, "Just like you do every day."

"Just making sure," the aforementioned swine teased. "So, getting back to the real topic, I don't think Itachi was asking for a fight."

"Well that's too bad," Sakura declared, the will of fire shining ominously in her eyes, "Because that's what he's going to get. No one comes between me and Mikoto-chan's cooking."

A little uneasy, Ino tried to calm down her friend by reminding her, "Easy there, Killer. This isn't an actual battle, Forehead."

"You're right. It's not a battle," Sakura seemed to solemnly agree, "It's a war and I'm going to win."

Ino groaned into her hands. Why couldn't her friend just be normal?

"So…" Shisui trailed off, "What happened?"

While most people wouldn't have noticed anything amiss about the prodigy Uchiha, Shisui was kind of freaking out. He'd never seen such light in his younger cousin's eyes. Whether it was a gleeful gleam or a maniacal shine, he wasn't too sure. But whatever it was, it was frightening.

Adding to that, Itachi had been staring at him fixatedly since he tracked him down half an hour ago. At least in this case, Shisui knew what to do. Usually when his baby cousin stared someone down like that, it was because he wanted their attention. It was kind of a creepy habit, if you asked Shisui.

Fortunately for him, it was usually Itachi's little brother that had to endure his weird staring. And more recently, his little brother's teammate had become his new fixation. Speaking of Itachi's little crush…

"Haruno-san."

Shisui nodded, figuring it had something to do with her. At Itachi's continued silence, he prodded, "I'm gonna need more details than that, buddy."

"I successfully," he paused, seeming to search for a word as if it wasn't in his extensive vocabulary. Appearing at a loss, he looked at his cousin for help.

"Talked?" Shisui guessed. At his cousin's unimpressed stare, he half-heartedly tried again, "Flirted?"

Itachi's eyes lit up once more. "Yes, I successfully flirted with Haruno-san today."

Shisui blanched. He knew that he should be patting his baby cousin on the back and heckling him for the details, but he just couldn't. Just what did Uchiha Itachi consider "flirting"? He didn't even have the word in his vocabulary for crying out loud. For all Shisui knew, he had cut out some unlucky bastard's heart and presented it to the poor pinkette like some kind of twisted token of affection.

But then again, considering how much of an anatomy nerd Haruno was, she'd probably think such a gift would be good study material. She was pretty hardcore like that. No wonder his baby cousin was so smitten.

Though Shisui was still tempted to demand "what in the hell did you do now?", he simply slapped a grin on and asked, "So, what did you say? Use any of the lines I taught you? C'mon, you smooth operator, report back to the one that taught you everything."

Itachi raised an eyebrow, subtlety dissing his cousin's claims, before he relented and began his report.

By the time he reached the end of his story, Shisui had gone mysteriously pale.

"You fool," Shisui bemoaned, "Do you realize what you've done?"

"I flirted with Haruno-san?" the aforementioned fool reiterated, a bit of nervousness creeping into his tone.

"You've entered a war against her," the veteran of the two solemnly declared, "She issued the challenge and you accepted. Now she's going to bleed you dry."

Itachi owlishly blinked, conveying his immense confusion. "Is that not how you flirt?"

"Sure," Shisui snarked, "If you're flirting with death, then that's the way you do it."

Waving away his cousin's ominous words, Itachi reaffirmed, "Haruno-san and I merely flirted. Everything will be fine."

Shisui groaned into his hands, knowing a death flag when he saw one. Almost as if he had prophetic powers, he could clearly see the disasters that would come from Itachi's courting attempts. Everything would most definitely not be fine.

Unfortunately for all the parties involved, Shisui was right.

And for once, Itachi was horrifically wrong.

A/N: Oho~ What an ominous ending, huh? Sorry to end it like this, but I didn't want to keep anyone waiting for any longer. Also, I must apologize again for the delay. I'm so sorry, my loves! And for everyone hungering for more ItaSaku interaction, I'm sorry if this chapter disappointed (in general, I'm just very sorry for everything). Buuuut...they'll definitely be interacting again next chapter~

Once again, thank you for all the reviews, follows and faves. And thank you for reading this and please have a wonderful day!

:Dotti3