Chapter 1
Sakura lived a normal life, or as normal of a life as the top thoracic surgeon in the country could live. She lived a lavish life; Prada pumps, trips to the Caribbean anytime of the year she wanted, she always had the newest phone, everything of the sort. The only thing she didn’t pay much attention to was her car. Usually work had her traveling cross country so there wasn’t a need to use her car. Hell, she didn’t even go grocery shopping, she just had it delivered when she was at home and needed food for her fridge. So, she could admit, her car took a backseat.
She never regretted that decision until she had to go to work one day. Normally, she would just Uber it, but today she thought differently. Why? Probably the comments Ino had made about her being a stuck up rich snob.
I’ll show you stuck up… Sakura thought to herself as she drove to the hospital. She knows her colleagues would be surprised to see that she had a car from 2020 she decided not to replace. What was the point? She lived in the city anyway.
One her way to work, the engine light came on and her engine started to sputter.
“No, no…” She said as the car stopped. She pulled over to the side of the road and put her hazard lights on. She sent a text to her boss letting her know that she was probably going to be late. While on the phone, she pulled up the app to her insurance company to call for a tow truck. She didn’t know how all of this worked, but she remembered the commercials she had seen in the past. She stayed inside the car for a few minutes as she waited. It was rather warm outside so staying inside the shade of her car had helped a little.
It took about twenty minutes before the tow truck made it. A rather handsome brunet came out of the tow truck. She couldn’t keep her eyes off of him as he walked up to the car. His hair was rather long for a man of her tastes, but she made sure he stayed in the mirror as he came to the door. He knocked on the window when she opened the door. The man stepped to the side to let her out.
“Hello. I’m Itachi. Your insurance called and said you needed our services.” the man said, his dark eyes putting her in a bit of a trance. Once she got out of it she finally found the words to speak.
“Uh– yes! Sorry. I don’t normally drive my car. I haven’t driven it in a while but I didn't expect it to break down on me.” Sakura said quietly.
“It’s okay. That’s what I’m here for. Let me hook your car up and I’ll drive you to the shop.” Itachi explained. He didn’t smile or anything as he got to work.
“Get back in your car and put the car in neutral, please?”
“Uh… neutral?” the pinkette blinked, a littel confused by his statement.
“You know, the N on your gear shift.”
Blushing even harder, Sakura got into the car and did just that before getting out to watch. It’s not as if she didn’t trust him, but she didn’t know what was going on.
Itachi slowly began to hook everything up to put the car on the truck bed, strapping it and doing everything he needed to do. Once the car was in its place, itachi motioned for Sakura to follow him, motioning towards the passenger seat. She had to climb to get in the truck, and her heels didn’t help but once she was in she sighed. The air conditioning in the truck was helping immensely.
Itachi got into the driver seat, starting the truck before turning his lights on.
“So how long have you had the car?” He asked, if only to try for some conversation.
“Oh, for about four years now. Though I need a new one after this.” Sakura chuckled nervously before the cab became quiet again.
“It’s only four years old. Why would you replace it? It’s probably a simple fix if it's only four years old.”
“... but if it broke down, then wouldn’t that mean its time for a new one.” She stated as if that was the rational thing. Whatever she said made the man scoff, maybe laugh?
Sakura looked over to Itachi, a small smirk on his face.
“You don’t know much about cars, do you? You do know they can be fixed, right? There are these things called mechanics.”
Sakura nodded. “I know what a mechanic is. Just… what if it’s a bad engine… thingy….”
“Thingy?” Itachi repeated.
“Yes, the thingy with the thingy.”
Itachi didn’t hold back this time. He actually let out a chuckle.
“I promise, I will be able to fix your car. You see, I own my own mechanic shop with my cousin. I promise I can fix the thingy.”
Sakura simply nodded, looking ahead as Itachi drove.
They sat in silence besides the music that was playing on the radio.She didn’t know what to say because she felt like she made an ass of herself. Though she could see out the corner of her eye that Itachi’s hands were rough and he had scars all over his arms, probably from fixing cars? It was rude to ask about scars, so she didn’t even bring it up.
“So… are you from around here?” She asked quietly as they were stopped at a stop light.
“Yes. Born and raised here. Went to Konoha High and everything.”
Sakura nodded before going quiet again. She didn’t know what all to say to him, those words still ringing in her head.
Thingy… why did I have to say that?
The truck began to slow down and turn into a rather large building with a couple of garages attached. There were cars everywhere, so she assumed he had to have been busy.
“I guess this is your place?” Sakura asked.
“Yep.” He answered.
Sakura nodded her head as he turned around to back into the garage, the building being big enough to fit both her car and the tow truck. Once Itachi backed in, He got out of the cab and began to unhook the car to place it back on the ground. Sakura got out of the cab and watched carefully, not that she didn’t trust Itachi with her car, but she just wanted to see what happened.
“So, your insurance covered the tow truck pay, really good insurance by the way, but It’ll take me a day to diagnose and figure out what’s going on with your car. Is that okay?
Sakura nodded. “Yeah, yeah….” She said, looking at the time.
“Shit.. i have to go. Do I need to tip you or anything?”
Itachi shook his head no.
“No tips, i just need you to sign this piece of paper and I’ll let you go.” He handed her a clipboard with paperwork on it. Sakura read it and sighed, going to sign it.”
“I would thank you more, but I have to get to work.” She said, pulling out a business card out of her purse to hand over with the paperwork.
Itachi looked at the card and said a ‘hn’ under his breath.
“Well, Doctor Haruno, I will call you around this time tomorrow. There's one car I have to get to before I can diagnose your car trouble.”
Sakura nodded.
“Are you sure there isn’t anything else i can do for you?”
Itachi shook his head no.
“It’s fine. I am only doing my job. You can stay inside until the car comes to pick you up.”
Sakura nodded.
“Thank you. I really mean it. You saved my life.” She said, shaking his hand. Not used to that, Itachi just let it happen.
“Okay,” Sakura pulled her hands away as she pulled up her Uber app.
“I’ll wait for your call,” Sakura blushed before turning around as Itachi walked towards his office.
It didn’t take long for the Uber ride to get there. Sakura looked back at the garage and hopped into the uber, on her way to work.