My One and Only

Chapter 12

The girls at school unfortunately turned out to not be Sakura's only problem. Itachi was a handsome man who had attained many, what you would call, fangirls, despite his cold and ruthless personality.

These fangirls were everywhere, including among the maids that served his household. Despite how fearsome and merciless he was, it did not stop these fangirls from doing things that no sane person would dare, Sakura was about to learn. Love really did make you blind, including to rationality.

On this fateful day, Sakura had gotten fed up with only going to school and hiding away in Itachi's room for the rest of the day. If she was going to live in this house, she would explore, no matter if she felt as though the servants were staring at her weirdly.

Through this tour, she had discovered a set of backdoors that led to a beautiful garden with a large koi pond. It was separate from the courtyard although she didn't doubt there was an entrance somewhere that would take her to the said courtyard. 

This was when the fangirls decided to strike.

Sakura had been outside enjoying all the pretty flowers and the outdoors when she had realized it was about to rain. She quickly ran back to seek refuge inside as the sky began a light sprinkle that would lead to heavier rain.

Unfortunately for her just a few minutes after she had gone outside, a couple of girls had whispered conspiratorially amongst themselves. They giggled and snickered as the group's ring leader stepped forward and with a snarky smirk locked the doors that would allow Sakura's entrance back inside.

Lucky them, as a bonus it was about to pour.

Sakura frantically pulled at the door, no matter how hard she pulled it didn't budge. She began to pound on it, hoping someone would let her in.

After a few seconds of solid knocking, she slowly stopped, realizing no one was going to open. Oh, someone had locked her out.

Resigned to her fate, she glumly slid down the wall next to the door to wait.

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Itachi arrived home and had been excited to see Sakura. He looked all over for her: their bedroom, the living room, the dining room, the halls.

When he couldn't find her anywhere, and it began to rain so hard that all that was visible outside was the blurry blue of the sky, he began to become agitated.

He asked around his servants if they had seen her. They had all answered him no.

With horror, an older maid recalled that she had seen Sakura earlier that day, going outside. She timidly walked toward Itachi after having told him that she hadn't seen Sakura and informed him in a small voice that the last place she had seen Sakura in the gardens.

A look of murder overtook Itachi's face as he decisively stomped toward the backdoors.

The servants looked on with growing trepidation as Itachi walked down the halls. They knew they would be blamed if Sakura did happen to be found outside. And if she was outside in such horrid conditions who knew what Itachi would do to them.

Itachi went to the backdoor that opened up to the garden. His anger only grew after he had to unlock the door because it had been closed. 

Itachi looked outside around for a moment. The servants felt their hearts stop and the color drained from their faces as they saw the familiar head of pink hair coming inside. She was shivering and dripping wet.

Oh, God. Itachi would have their heads! Not only had she indeed been outside in the pouring rain but someone had been stupid enough to lock the door on her.

Itachi's deadly stare pierced through all of his servants as he guided Sakura inside by her shoulders.

"Masumi" he stated addressing the older maid that had told him Sakura was outside in the first place, "Please take care of Sakura and make sure she has a warm bath."

Masumi bowed before stepping forward and gently taking Sakura's arm, "come here, dear." She leads Sakura down the hall, ushering her forward with an arm on her back. Masumi was thankful. It meant she would be left out of whatever was about to go down.

Itachi waited a few minutes for the rest of his servants to gather in front of him. He said nothing as he stared at each and every face, waiting for someone to crack.

The servants who had left to round up the rest of the staff at the backdoors knew exactly who it had been. The fear in the girl's eyes as they had told them that Itachi wanted to see all his servants had been enough to give them away.

If no one said anything, they knew they would all be punished, and they had no intentions of risking their own hides for those blubbering fools.

Just as one of the servants was about to step up, a buxom old woman stepped forward instead. Kaya, the grandmother of one of the girls involved, no doubt planned to sacrifice herself for them.

Well, as long as someone took the blame.

Kaya bowed her head to Itachi, "Forgive me, your highness. I must've forgotten the lady was outside."

Itachi stared down at her coldly. He knew it hadn't been her but he was willing to accept this for now. "This better not happen again. We will discuss the consequences of your actions later."

"Yes, your highness." The old woman stayed bowed as Itachi moved to leave the room. The other servants threw dirty looks at the girls before moving on to attend to their duties. 

Kaya moved to her granddaughter and her friends with an upset scowl. Just because she had saved them from Lord Itachi's hands didn't mean she wouldn't scold them herself.

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Itachi paced around his halls for a while before he stalked towards his bedroom. He was very much upset that he hadn't been able to catch the real culprit.

He would still punish that old maid, but it would be for lying to him than anything else. He would likely just give her some extra work or something. Itachi wasn't worried enough about her to put some real thought into how he would deal with her.

It was the person who had done it that he wanted to teach a real lesson to.

Itachi entered his room and went straight for the bathroom. Masumi was kneeled next to the tub about to rinse Sakura's hair out.

"You are dismissed, Masumi."

Masumi silently stood up before nodding her head respectfully to Itachi and leaving the room. Sakura shifted uncomfortably in the water as Itachi kneeled where the maid had been. Great. Stupid people who had locked her out were going to pay. Now she had to deal with this too.

Sakura brought her knees closer to her chest and wound her arms under her legs. It was silent as Itachi rinsed her hair out.

"Are you okay?" Itachi asked quietly.

Sakura looked to the wall next to her with a grumpy pout on her face, "I just got a little wet." She said moodily.

Itachi hummed in response. He stood up once he was done and reached for a white towel, "You should get out now." She had been in there for a while.

Sakura flushed when Itachi reached for her arm and pulled her up. Her embarrassment didn't last long luckily since Itachi quickly wrapped the towel around her body. He placed his hands under her armpits and lifted her up and out of the tub. Itachi placed a black robe that was a bit too big for her and had to be his over the white towel.

Then, he reached for another towel and ruffled up her hair as he used the towel to dry it. Despite all the warmth Sakura still shivered as Itachi led her out of the bathroom and over to the bed. She was also starting to feel a little sleepy.

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I think this is the longest chapter.