The Secret Lover (ItaSaku)

Chapter 21 - Drunk

Do not read this until you check the previous chapter. It has only a few reads and I'm 100% sure that some of you skipped it.

"Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up." - Neil Gaiman, The Kindly Ones

It's been a week since the incident with Itachi and that woman and a week since she broke up with Naruto. She hasn't visited Itachi since then. If Tsunade will find out, she will kill her. But he's a grown man. He can take care of himself without her babysitting him. Sure, probably the civilains threw him nasty glares considering that they don't know his real story. But why would she care? His girlfriend can take good care of him. As about Naruto... Well, she hasn't seen him either. She heard from Ten Ten that he was training restlessly, draining all his chakra. For now, she had to think of a plan to hook him up with Hinata to erase his misery.

She opened the door from the bar, making the bell ring. Somewhere in the back, in a booth were Tsunade, Shizune and Kakashi waiting for her. She hesitated for some seconds but eventually gathered her courage to walk up to them. She took a seat next to Tsunade who smiled at her.

"You are finally here, Sakura." she chuckled, taking a sip from her sake.

"Yeah..." she avoided her gaze.

"Hey, light up... What's with the sad face?"

Sakura looked outside the window at the peaceful night.

"I'm fine." she answered absently. She was not fine.

"So Sakura, would you mind telling us what happened in the Sound Village?" Kakashi asked, leaning on his arms. Tsunade's cheeks were already red from the alchohol.

"Doesn't matter... It's done." she answered weakly. "He won't bother me anymore or the village. He learned his lesson."

"Yes, I think we should thank Naruto for that." Kakashi said. Her heart clentched. No, it was Itachi who saved her and she wanted to scream that in their faces.

The waitress came and asked her if she wants to order and Sakura asked for some bottles of sake to forget about everything.

They came and she drank glass after glass without pause. She started to feel the heat raising in her cheeks.

"Slow down." Shizune warned her, looking at Tsunade worried, who was chuckling by herself.

After some more hours, Tsunade was too drink to stand on her legs and needed both Shizune and Kakashi to support her and take her home. She was almost unconscious.

"Are you sure you can handle it?" Kakashi asked the pinkette, pointing at her empty bottles of sake. She waved her hand and hiccuped.

"Yeah, yeah!"

"Alright then... See you tomorrow." he waved, walking out with Shizune and the drunk Hokage who received a lot of glares. Sakura sighed, looking at her empty glass.

A tall man with white long hair and red eyes approaced the pinkette with a genuine smile.

"May I buy you a drink?" his cheeks turned red while he tried to avoid her gaze, being embarassed.

She heard some giggles from the booth next to her and couldn't help but to take a glace. There he was. Her heart started pumping in her chest at a fast rate and she felt a lump in her throat. Itachi sat on one on the two couches, being surrouded by 7 girls who giggled and trying to gain his attention with different remarks. Their voices scratched her brain, making her cringe. He just stared at his bottle of sake, not paying attention. He eventually gave them a small, forced smile which made them sqeal in excitement. The pinkette felt her chest clentching.