Chapter Text
A virtual you
— August —
cherricherri: It seems like he’s not into me… at all ToT
waUch: That doesn’t sound good.
waUch: What happened?
cherricherri: I’ll tell u if u dont laugh…
waUch: I promise I won’t, even though you wouldn’t be able to see me.
cherricherri: Ok the day was mid till lunch time. I saw “marmot” (wink) talking with… one of my classmates, who had been showing her crush on him lately. Like too much!! And then I remember all of those things u said to me weeks ago, remember?
waUch: Elaborate…
cherricherri: “You have to go after what you want if you plan to ever be happy”
cherricherri: Like really. Everytime I read ur messages I feel like i’m talking with the most serious person in the world lol
cherricherri: But I digress… What u said gave me the courage to approach “marmot” at lunchtime and I said: “u and i have to talkkkk!” He just raised an eyebrow. I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to him like that. Then he said he couldn’t leave the lunch line cause he didn’t plan on losing his place.
waUch: That’s discouraging.
cherricherri: of course it was!!
waUch: What did you do?
cherricherri: well… I told him that I liked him in front of everyone.
waUch: Ouch.
cherricherri: exactly.
cherricherri: Okay, I might have done more than just said it… I might have…sort of…yelled it.
cherricherri: Angrily.
cherricherri: And I think he was angry too. Everyone was looking at us, and I FELT their pity-glares when he said he didn’t feel the same. I was utterly humiliated.
waUch: …
waUch: It is just highschool, cherri. Soon you will forget all about it and turn the page onto the part of your life that really matters.
cherricherri: what do you mean “it is just highschool”? pleeaseee don’t tell me u are an old creep, u told me u were 20
waUch: Dont be silly. I graduated recently.
cherricherri: Sure… glad to know
waUch: You accept me at my word so easily.
cherricherri: I trust u blindly.
cherricherri: I lit don’t even know ur face, so technically i do trust u blindly
waUch: I would like to think you are being sweet, but it’s a little worrying. I really hope u don’t run into any pervs around there.
cherricherri: Of course i’m sweet. But I also know that you could easily extort me if you ever found out who I am. And there are som things I can only tell you…so if u say you are 20, then u are 20 to me lol.
waUch: I feel the same. It’s dinner time, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
cherricherri: Bye, wa-kun. ^.^
—o—
The soul-crushing rejection she'd suffered hours earlier at the hands of the boy she'd spent the last year in love with was the lowest blow she'd suffered that year. Part of her knew it would only get worse from now on.
She stretched and let go of the long braid holding her pink locks. A day like this called for a delicious dinner and a long bubble bath, only then would she wash away the remnant feeling from the disastrous event.
A part of her knew that waUch was right. At some point she was going to get over this. And she took her virtual friend’s advice to heart. He was the most rational person she knew. Even when in reality, she didn’t know him.
All she knew about him was that they lived in the same city, that he went to university, and that he studied something related to finance. Boy, was he a genius. That’s why she was going to take his advice again, even though it didn’t quite work out the first time.
“Pursue what you want to be happy.”
Tonight she would tell her father that there was no way she would go to law school. No sir, she didn’t care if he wanted her to preside over the family business. She wanted to be a doctor, and she knew she had all the ability to be one.
Yes , she thought, nodding to herself. She was smart. Before moving to Konoha and entering the most prestigious institution, she was quite well known at her old school for being a bookworm. Always showing up with her hair held back in twin braids, dressed in long skirts that fell below her from the outside world.
Always studying.
And without a friend, or a boyfriend, or any hobbies that were attractive to her classmates, there was nothing about her that interested the girls at her old school — even though Sakura always tried her best to be nice.
Once she moved to another city, she knew it was time to change her life a little. Especially because before moving, she met her virtual friend, with whom she spoke sacredly every day. He made her feel brave enough to dare to do new things.
That’s how she gradually began to explore her own personality. She knew very well that she had quiet tastes for her age: knitting, reading, enjoying solitude. But she questioned her tastes when waUch asked her if she had these hobbies because she enjoyed them, or if she had them because of pressure from her parents.
Sakura knew almost immediately that she was a mix of both. Upon this discovery, one of her goals at her new school was to stop having her nose in a book when she was alone. That would give some space for people to approach her, as well as allow her to be able to approach them.
When all was said and done, it took one week to make more friends than she had had in her entire life. She found herself adopted by a beautiful scandalous blonde, a rather spitfire brunette and a shy black-haired girl who she wonderfully got along with almost immediately: Ino, Tenten and Hinata.
At lunch, she began to interact with their older friends, Konan, Temari and Karin, who were in the class above her.
Sakura couldn't help but tell all this to her virtual friend, who wisely advised her not to trust new friends too much. They can disappoint you, he told her.
Sakura didn't know how to interpret his words very well, so she didn't think before confinding in them her crush.
Uchiha Sasuke.
Ino amusedly told her that she liked him when they were younger. Tenten added that half of the female population of the school liked him, while the other half liked his older brother. So distracted by the realization that she had competition for capturing Sasuke’s hearts, she hadn’t even realized thath Karin had fallen silent when Sakura revealed her secret.
Several months later, Sakura finally understood why—and learned the meaning of waUch’s words, as well. Waling out of school, she had caught Karin kissing Sasuke behind the building.
Don't trust new friends, indeed.
The young girl tearfully told what she had seen to Ino, who had proclaimed herself her best friend and for months had helped her to exploit her beautiful potential. When Ino found out, all hell broke loose. The group was inevitably divided between the four of them and the three older girls. There was no respite during that year. Sakura watched painfully as the redhead slowly got closer to the Uchiha over the next few months before exploding when she saw him too close to her in the cafeteria that same day.
How stupid she had been. To think of competing with Karin, who was older, beautiful, and clearly knew what she was doing. Who could say no to that?
“Sakura! Dinner!”
“I'm coming!”
She put on some comfortable clothes. She hoped dinner would end soon. She wasn't hungry at all.
—o—
— September—
cherricherri: so next topic… I had too much free time, so I signed up to be a tutor ^.^
waUch: Sounds like an excellent use of your time.
cherricherri: boy, I hope so. I’ve already got my first “student”. He’s incredibly loud and I have to help him with math. I have no idea how he's spent all these years in school if he can barely handle the basics.
waUch: Everyone goes through different things. With different contexts.
cherricherri: Yeah ur right. As far as I know, he doesn’t have a father, but since his mother’s wealthy, they have been able to maintain themselves well.
waUch: It seems like a difficult situation.
cherricherri: it is! gotta go, s’too late. talk to u tomorrow^.^
waUch: Good night, cherri.
—o—
That morning she would be told who her second student was. Having perfect grades had the great benefit of allowing her to have extra income by helping students in subjects in which they were having trouble. According to what Shino had told her, tutors normally had around three students, but during exam time they could have as much as seven.
After lunch, she excused herself to talk with Kurenai, the biology teacher who would tell her which boy from her class she would be put in charge of.
When she entered the classroom, she saw none other than Uchiha Sasuke standing there, six-foot-four, his gaze heavy.
Their eyes met, and Sakura felt a pang in her heart when she saw the annoyed look on her classmate's face. Shit . Helping Naruto in math was annoying for her, but helping Sasuke was probably going to be hell.
“Good morning, Kurenai-sensei.”
“Morning, Haruno-chan. This is Uchiha Sasuke, you're gonna help him in biology.”
Sakura bowed slightly in greeting and faked a small smile. She approached him, and they agreed on the days and times they could meet to study. Kurenai wrote down the details before saying goodbye.
"See you tomorrow, Sasuke," Sakura sueaked, before spinning and making her way for the door.
"See you."
—o—
At 7 p.m. the next day, Sakura was outside the Uchiha mini-mansion, tightly clutching her school bag full of the materials she needed for today's lesson and to make a diagnosis of Sasuke's strengths and weaknesses.
When she rang the doorbell, a middle-aged woman with long, straight black hair opened the door for her. She looked homely and splendid. “You must be Sakura. Please come in. Sasuke-chan is waiting for you.”
Sakura thanked her with a smile and followed the woman into a large living room, furnished with wooden furniture and a long glass table in the middle. On it, a couple of thick books that looked like they had never been used were stacked next to a notebook. Once she sat down, her classmate arrived.
“Hello, Sasuke.”
He nodded once in greeting before saying, “Let's get this over with.”
Rude, she thought. For an hour, Sakura examined the young man's knowledge, from what he knew to what he lacked the knowledge of, his study skills, and his memory. She knew that his main problem was finding a way to memorize the amount of concepts that would go into the final exam, especially because he was determined to handle the subject forwards and backwards. He had to get an A on the exam.
Sakura knew immediately that the boy was not doing badly, so she had the luxury of organizing his classes in a more advanced way. She was going to give her all so that Sasuke would do excellently. Not because she liked him, she thought, but out of sheer professionalism. Right?
An hour and a half had passed when the boy's mother appeared. "Sakura-chan, I've put a plate of food out for you, so you can join us for dinner."
The pink-haired girl blushed. “Oh, I don’t know if... It's not necessary, Mikoto-san. My parents must be waiting for me.”
“I insist, Sakura-chan, you'll be coming often.” The Uchiha matriarch made a face that didn't allow any rejection. “I'd like you to stay for dinner tonight.”
Sakura nodded shyly, glancing at her partner, who didn't look pleased with the situation, but not entirely annoyed either. For a moment she hoped that this treatment wouldn’t happen to her every Thursday. She wouldn't like to have to eat there every time she tutored Sasuke.
Once at the table, Sakura was delighted by the amount of culinary delights that were spread out. There was a series of marinated seafoods, shrimp with cream, rice with vegetables, tempura—and in the middle of it all was a small apple pie.
Immediately after she had taken her seat, the one who seemed to be Sasuke's older brother arrived. The pink-haired girl was amazed by what she thought was the most beautiful human being on the planet. Piercing gaze, straight eyebrows, snow-white skin, and a tall, narrow body. She couldn't help but blush at the sight of such a man and tried to hide it by drinking some tea.
“Itachi-chan, this is Haruno Sakura. She’ll be tutoring Sasuke-chan.”
As the elder Uchiha sat down, he arched an eyebrow at his brother. “Tutor?”
“Biology,” he replied, annoyed.
“Are you having trouble?”
“No.”
“You could have asked me for help.”
Sasuke tasked in annoyance.
This time, Itachi addressed the young woman. “Nice to meet you, Haruno-san,” greeted politely.
Sakura stuttered out, “Nice to meet you too, Uchiha-san.”
“Itachi is just fine.”
“Then you can call me Sakura.”
Itachi nodded.
The dinner took place in relative silence, only interrupted by the matriarch and Sakura, who were pleasantly chatting about light topics. “Sakura-chan, since you are a tutor you must have excellent grades. Do you already know what you want to study?”
The young woman seemed to debate on her answer.
“Well… my greatest wish is to study medicine,” she said, bringing the cup of tea to her mouth. “Although my father wants me to study law.” Sakura felt Itachi's eyes turn to her and became embarrassed.
Holy crap, let this dinner end quickly.
—o—
Uchiha Itachi eyed Haruno Sakura, his younger brother’s new tutor. She had a calm look, gentle hands, and a very cordial way of addressing his mother, himself, and even Sasuke. She also seemed to feel uncomfortable and he wondered why. Did his mother force her to stay for dinner? Or was there something else?
He decided not to keep thinking about the matter and eat in peace. His thoughts quickly drifted to the movie he had watched the night before with his virtual friend, and he wished this dinner would end quickly so he could go back to his room and check if she was online. Then he remembered: she would be connecting later tonight because she would be doing… her tutoring.
A quick thought crossed his mind and he dismissed it. That would be… too much of a coincidence.
Once he finished his meal, he was about to stand up when he heard the last thing her brother's young classmate said.
“Well… my greatest wish is to study medicine, although my father wants me to study law.”
“Oh. And what are you planning?” his mother asked.
“Well, I think I should pursue whatever makes me happy.”
Too much of a coincidence.
Too much.
“I'm happy to hear that, dear,” Mikoto smiled sincerely at Sasuke’s new tutor before turning towards her eldest son. “Oh, Itachi-chan, could you cut the pie before you leave?”
“Yes, mother.”
“Mikoto-san, don't your children mind the nickname you have for them?”
The woman blinked. “Nickname?”
“Sasuke- chan and Itachi- chan, ” she pointed out.
“Oh, that. No, of course not, dear. It's just affection, I've called them that since they were kids.”
Itachi looked sideways at the interaction as he served the pie and watched in amusement as his brother shifted uncomfortably.
“Did you never had a nickname as a child, Sakura-chan?”
“Mmh... well, when I was a child, my dad called me Cherry . And Cherry-cherry when I was a baby—”
Itachi dropped the plate with the pie as he listened.
Damn it. It wasn’t too much of a coincidence after all.
Cherricherri.