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A monumentally huge thank you to both Lightweaver and Newtonspendel for being my biggest cheerleaders while writing this. You guys are seriously awesome!! ❤️❤️❤️
The noise of the party was loud but in the garden behind the Uchiha residence, the music and laughter and noise didn’t quite reach. Which was fine with Sakura. For the past ten minutes, she had been standing with Sasuke among the sweet scent of the summer flowers gently swaying in the night breeze. It was a perfect setting for him to finally make a move.
So why hadn’t he?
She tapped her fingers against the railing and tried not to glance at him out of the corner of her eye for the tenth time since she’d joined him. Unsurprisingly, he was quiet, barely saying a handful of words to her, and her patience was wearing thin. Which was understandable since she had been waiting for the past three months for him to kiss her! Against her better judgment, Sakura looked at him again, watching as his dark eyes tracked a shooting star across the inky sky.
There’s no time like now, Sasuke, she thought to herself, taking a small step closer to him. Just look at me and kiss me!
And he did—look at her, that is. Sasuke tilted his head down and noticed her inching toward him and answered her advances by taking a step away. “Are you cold or something?”
“Um,” she blinked, momentarily caught off guard. “Yeah. That breeze is a bit cooler than I expected.”
“Oh.” He turned back to the sky. “You can go back inside where it’s warmer.”
Sakura’s shoulders fell and she pursed her lips together. Not letting her determination falter, she shook a strand of hair from her face and forced a sweet smile. “Or, you could warm me up.”
His sigh was immediate and it felt like a knife through her hopes. Sasuke didn’t turn to her or even move. He just let a long, heavy breath out of his lips that told her everything she needed to know.
Sakura blinked and reared back as if he’d struck her and when he finally spoke, she almost turned on her heel and ran from him. “Sakura…”
“What?”
The question tasted bitter on her tongue and she flinched as it reached her ears. Perhaps she should have tried harder to hold back her attitude. Finally, Sasuke turned his head and looked down at her, his eyes holding nothing but darkness. Empty voids. Not even pity.
“Why do you have to pressure me?”
“Pressure you? Sasuke, I think I’ve been pretty patient the past few months when you first told me you liked me. We’ve hung out almost every day and you still haven’t kissed me.”
Inside the house, someone laughed and triggered a chain reaction of noises from the party guests. Sakura could pick out Naruto’s guffaw and even Ino’s from all the way out here. At least they were having a better time than she was.
“I told you, I don’t like rushing into anything.”
“Rushing? The only thing moving faster than us is Katsuyu!”
With a roll of his eyes, Sasuke pushed away from the railing and stepped past her so fast, a few strands of Sakura’s hair caught in the corner of her lips. She angrily swiped it away and reached out, snatching him by the arm. He turned toward her a bit, but only to snatch his arm away and glare at her.
“If you don’t kiss me tonight, Sasuke, then I’m leaving.”
Silence.
Not a word.
Not even a glance.
“And I’ll find someone who will.”
She gave him a few more seconds and when it was clear he’d rather be a petulant child and refuse to even look at her, Sakura backed away with a shake of her head. She spun on her heel and ignored the entrance back into the Uchiha home. The last thing she wanted was to face her friends and Sasuke’s older brother—wherever Itachi had been hiding all night. She’d only seen him for a few minutes as he stood in the corner of the room, barely interacting, but that wasn’t exactly uncharacteristic of him.
He wouldn’t say anything if he saw her leaving, but he’d know. He’d know and everyone else would know that Sasuke had humiliated her—again—and she didn’t want to face the recognition on Itachi’s or any of her friend’s faces. At the edge of the garden, instead of ducking back inside, Sakura hurried beneath an arch of bamboo and hydrangea blooms, angrily swiping a mound of blossoms away as she ducked around it. This side of the house was dark and she nearly stumbled in the dew-dampened grass tickling the tops of her feet.
Anger roared in her ears and she cursed the burn of tears to the back of her eyes. She refused to cry. Not so close to Sasuke. No, she’d wait until she was back in her home, locked behind her bathroom door, and then cry and hate herself. For now, she just hated him.
Ahead on the path that cut down the side of the Uchiha home, Sakura could see the yellow light from the streetlamp though it barely reached past the line of trees that made up the outer edge of the garden. In just a few steps, she’d be free and she’d let herself at least shed a tear.
How could she be so stupid to think now would be any different? He was still the exact same Sasuke he’d always been and she was always going to be the gullible, hopeless, fool that she was. It wasn’t fair. Why didn’t he want her?
Was she not good enough?
Did anyone want her?
The thought nearly made her sob and she closed her eyes, reaching up to wipe away a tear before it could fall. Her hand never made it to her face. Fingers curled around her wrist and pulled, jerking her back into the shadows beneath the limbs of a maple tree. A breath hitched in her throat, her foot slipped in the dew, and Sakura feared she’d fall but—no, she wouldn’t because a pair of arms had hold of her.
Her first thought was that Sasuke had stopped her, that he’d changed his mind. As soon as her body met the darkened figure holding her, her hands pressing against the hard, muscular chest, she knew it wasn’t Sasuke. He wasn’t this tall. Sakura had to tilt her head back just to peer up at the pale face staring down at her and her eyes widened.
“I—Itachi?”
Much like his brother earlier, he didn’t respond to her question. He simply stared down at her. The leaves of the tree above them made strange shadows dance across his face as they fluttered in the breeze and Sakura felt mesmerized. So much that she didn’t even question why Itachi Uchiha was holding her so tightly against him.
All she could do was gaze up at him, her lips parting, heart hammering against her chest and when his eyes lowered to her mouth, Sakura sucked in a breath. The feel of his hand slipping up the length of her spine, over the sensitive flesh of her neck to bury his fingers into her hair, tripled her pulse so suddenly she felt light-headed.
The corner of Itachi’s lips curled—so small a gesture she almost missed it entirely. But she had seen it because she was staring at his lips as well.
Itachi dipped his head toward hers and while Sakura’s first instinct should be to lean away, possibly scream in surprise, she was completely shocked that she didn’t do either of those things. In fact, she found herself tipping her head up, catching his kiss the moment his lips touched hers and when they did, heat rushed through her like wildfire.
It seared her thoughts, burning up any protests she might have had, leaving any hesitation charred at the edges and Sakura welcomed the fire consuming her. Her fingers curled around the material of his shirt and she used her grip to pull him closer, parting her lips to taste the intoxicating desire on his tongue. Itachi answered with an arm wrapped around her waist and his other hand tangled in the strands of her hair.
For some reason, she could only think about how long it had taken to curl each section of her hair earlier that evening, how she had spent so much time and energy trying to look perfect for Sasuke. And now, she was standing in the dark of the garden, kissing his brother as if she was dying of thirst and Itachi was a river.
His head tilted, just enough to deepen their kiss, and Sakura felt a moan vibrate her throat, unaware she had even made a sound at all. Every brush of his lips and hungry caress of his tongue against hers was careful and calculated—like he knew exactly what she wanted and how she had been begging to be kissed for months.
Itachi knew.
Sakura hadn’t even realized she was moving until the rough trunk of the tree pressed between her shoulder blades. He kept his hand at the back of her head to cushion it against the tree but the other hand slipped away from her waist. Thankfully, it didn’t go far. Itachi found her hip and danced the tips of his fingers around the curve of her ass until she felt the heat of his touch at the back of her thigh. He pulled her leg until it curled around his waist and Sakura was glad he kept her pinned against the tree.
Otherwise, she’d have melted to the ground on weakened knees.
Itachi slowed the kiss, giving her a moment to catch her breath, but didn’t take his lips away. He ducked and found her jaw, kissing a trail of heat down the length of her neck and into the highly sensitive flesh across her collarbone. It left her dizzy—both with desire and disbelief. Was this really happening?
Was she tangled in Itachi’s arms in a dark garden, wanting more than a taste of what he’d already given her?
She sucked in a deep, shuddering breath and slid her palm up his chest, curling it around his neck where the silken strands of his hair fell over his shoulder. “Itachi…” his name was nothing but a breath on her lips, but he heard her.
Itachi lifted his head and she nearly whimpered at the loss of his lips against her neck but found herself too lost in the crimson of his Sharingan. He studied her face, memorizing the way her hair framed her jaws, the blush dappled across her cheeks, how her chest rose and fell with each trembling breath. She had never felt so…seen.
“This is what you wanted,” he said, his voice quiet in the dark of the night but loud enough to make her breath hitch. It wasn’t a question, though Sakura answered him anyway.
“Yes.”
Itachi leaned toward her, so close she thought he would kiss her again. She felt the ghost of his lips and swallowed tightly, her eyes fluttering shut. They didn’t stay that way for long. They snapped open as soon as he spoke once again.
“You can have more if you want it, Sakura.”
The Sharingan brightened in his eyes and with it, Sakura felt the heat of desire gather in her lower belly, sinking into her core. She didn’t know what to say, could barely remember how to even speak. Was he…suggesting what she thought—no, hoped—he was suggesting?
Itach’s reached up to brush the hair away from her face, the back of his knuckles tracing the line of her jaw until he reached her chin. The edge of his thumb caught her bottom lip and she watched his gaze fall to her mouth, taking in the sight of it, committing it to memory.
Though she didn’t want to look away from him, her eyes darted back the way she’d come, where she’d stood with Sasuke only moments ago. Was he still there? Did their friends wonder where she’d disappeared to?
And if she did take Itachi up on his offer—there was no way she could, it was too outrageous, too bizarre—what would they think if she came back inside with him?
But…what if…
Sakura turned back to Itachi, searching the crimson slowly spinning in his gaze as she licked her lips. “Everyone will see us if we go back inside and then disappear together.”
“Yes.” He didn’t seem to care at all about that.
Taking a deep breath that pressed her chest into his, she ducked her gaze and stared down at his lips. Oh, those lips that had kissed her so expertly, so divinely. She’d be a fool to turn his offer down.
Her eyes lifted to meet his again and she nodded. “But there’s no one at my house.”