Chapter Text
One of the oddest habits Sakura held on to from her childhood was getting an ice cream cone right after school. She always went to the same place – the one she’d gone to as a kid – because they were actually homemade instead of sold in stores. She didn’t have a problem with buying ice cream from the store; she just preferred to go buy a dollar cone with an ice cream flavor and three toppings of her choice. Besides, the people who sell it to her also run the bookstore that she went to and read at for hours on end, so she knew them pretty well. So of course, right after her last class of the day ended and she’d mingled with her friends, while ultimately making a beeline for her car. After reaching said mode of transportation, she made her way to the little ice cream parlor that was a block away from her house.
She easily parked in one of the few spaces, the place was small and looked pretty old, but the inside of it was full of pictures and decorations. The place was almost like a second home to her, the bookstore being the other one of course. Within seconds she was entering through the door, a small jingle alerting the occupants inside that there was someone coming in.
Kakashi took one look at her and turned around to get her order: white chocolate mint flavored ice cream with hot fudge, chocolate chips and sprinkles. Yum. See Sakura loved white chocolate and mint chocolate so Kaksahi – the owner of the bookstore along with his wife, Anko, who was the owner of the parlor shop – had decided to mix the two and let the pinkette have a taste test. When she shouted her approval and then started in on her ice cream trying to savor it while stuffing it down by the mouthful. Not very lady-like, as Anko had commented when she’d entered the room to see what all the shouting was about. From there, Sakura became the official taste tester for all their new inventions. Sakura didn’t mind being their guinea pig, though, it meant free ice cream and getting to be the first to taste the ice cream they were so infamous for.
Without thinking about it, Sakura closed her eyes as she hummed a tune she’d had stuck in her head for a while and made her way to a table that she knew would have two seats and was next to a window. What she didn’t anticipate was running into someone.
So of course, when she suddenly ran into someone, she snapped her eyes open as well as her mouth, “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” the pink haired teen exclaimed, but then she realized just who she’d bumped into and gotten ice cream all over.
Uchiha Itachi.
Oh crap. “I’m really sorry, is there any way I can make it up to you?” But the worst part was that she needed to learn how to keep her mouth shut. A klutz and a big-mouthed idiot. She knew the guy’s younger brother, and also knew said brother was an arrogant jerk who would probably find something really humiliating to do to the school geek right now. Itachi was rumored to be even worse than his younger brother. She was so screwed as it was and then she just had to go and ask if she could make it up to him. Did she love torturing herself or what?
When she got the nerve to finally peek up at him from her bowed head, she found him to be looking at her with curiosity and not a sinister look like she expected him to be sporting. “A new shirt would be nice since you did just ruin this one, but I think that’s reasonable, don’t you?”
Drop dead gorgeous supposed to be sadistic Uchiha heir say what?
She snapped her head up to look him directly in the eye. If he wasn’t sadistic like his little brother, than surely he’d have no problem with it. But she couldn’t believe he’d be so understanding. She got ice cream all over a shirt that must be at least seventy-five dollars. Wait a minute, seventy-five dollars, that’s why he seemed so reasonable. He was going to make her buy a really expensive shirt that would use up all the money she’d worked so hard to save.
But no one said no to an Uchiha, and most certainly not the Uchiha heir. So she nodded grudgingly and stated through clenched teeth that she would. Stupid Uchihas, they thought they were so superior to everyone else. She snorted inwardly, their superiority complex only made them look like arrogant pricks and fools to her. But she was the school geek, so saying such wouldn’t be very good for her health.
He raised an elegant eyebrow, “Of course I’ll have to accompany you.”
She was the school geek, yes, but she was only called that because she was so intelligent that standing next to her made one feel like an idiot and therefore to make themselves feel better, the popular crowd had deemed her the school geek and freak. Geek by intelligence and freak by uniqueness. At least she wasn’t just another mindless teen in the crowd. He personally found her beautiful, her pink hair and sparkling green eyes worked for her. And quite nicely, too.
He had decided to follow her from the school to the little ice cream parlor that she always went to. It was an odd habit of hers, but that was alright, because the little place was quaint in its own way. The man behind the counter looked at Sakura and then turned to get her order. After retrieving it, Sakura turned and headed for a seat while humming a tune he didn’t recognize. He deliberately put himself in her path simply to see how she’d react and realized too late that she’d closed her eyes. She must’ve known this place very well to trust herself to do so. Or perhaps she trusted her senses enough. When she ran into him though, he realized the former one was the right one.
Impossibly large emerald green eyes snapped open upon contact, “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” He always had liked her voice. He wasn’t going to say it was soft and beautiful, but he would say that it was nice to hear, especially directed at him.
Then she seemed to freeze when she realized just who she’d run into. That’s right; he’d never approached her so she only knew him as his foolish little brother’s elder brother. Sasuke could be quite the prick and was the perfect representation of their family, while Itachi saw no reason to act so foolishly. He didn’t own the world and when Sasuke got out on his own, he’d be in for a rude awakening. He did love the kid; he just couldn’t stand him was all. “I’m really sorry, is there any way I can make it up to you?”
And all though Itachi didn’t think himself superior to all, he also wasn’t a saint. He wouldn’t pass up the chance she’d just given him. She really was something else. “A new shirt would be nice since you did just ruin this one, but I think that’s reasonable don’t you?” It really was just a shirt, simple black and about ten dollars. But it was also his chance to get closer to this little paradox that he’d become interested in when he’d learned all she’d accomplished. Skipping two whole grades, an A+ student in every class since she started middle school and she was now a senior Valedictorian of her year, editor-in-chief of the school newspaper and the varsity volleyball team captain.
He could see her tense further and realized that she must have thought because he was Sasuke’s elder brother that he was just like the teen, if not worse. That didn’t settle well with him, he made a mental note to clear that up when they went out for that shirt. She nodded and said she would through gritted teeth. And soon.
He quirked an eyebrow, “of course I’ll have to accompany you.”