My entry for 's fanfiction fanart contest, done with Copic Markers and a wee bit of Prismacolor pencil.


_{(It's my first time using these dang markers, so if the coloring looks rough or not that great, despite how much I practiced with them, then ... oh well. :/ )}


As for the inspiration for the piece... well, there's a weird, sort of long story behind that... _XD


At first, I attempted to create fanart for paws-bells' fic Silk Kimono by making Sakura wear a kimono and by having Itachi hold some chocolate to his lips (as if he were teasing her) while playing with Sakura's hair. The picture was supposed to portray (not detail for detail, but in a way that you got the general gist of what's going on) the scene where Itachi swooped in in time to save Sakura from Aoishi Isuka (hence Sakura's startled expression).

But as I failed miserably at drawing a proper kimono for Sakura, I instead made her wear something more modern...ish.

And then I noticed Itachi's arm was being twisted at an awfully weird angle and had to occupy his left arm with something else. I deliberated long and hard before finally deciding to have Itachi hold a gun to Sakura's head (in a "I'm-not-letting-you-go-because-you're-all-mine-and-I-will-protect-you-with-my-life" sort of way), but then people (in real life) started commenting how Itachi looked like he was about to kill Sakura.... <sub>DX

I had put a gun in Itachi's hand because it was the only "police-ish" type of thing I could think of that Itachi could hold to Sakura's head.</sub>


After thinking for a little while longer (and partially just upon a whim), I decided to have Itachi hold a hairdryer to Sakura's head (in the same "I'm-not-letting-you-go-because-you're-all-mine-and-I-will-protect-you-with-my-life" manner) this time. The chocolate in Itachi's right hand was switched with the hairdryer plug, and yeah... that's basically how they came to be in that strange pose together.


I was originally going to credit Silk Kimono and Hairdryer as the fics that inspired the picture until, a few weeks ago, I happened to reread the summary for paws-bells' Hanami right after I decided to wind the cord around both Sakura and Itachi:


ItaSaku She saved his life out of compassion, and he took advantage of her kind heart. Before she knew what was going on, he had bound her to him in a way she had never expected, and what scared her the most was that he was never going to let her go.


Wow, what a coincidence, eh? _{XD XD XD}


And so, that's how this picture ended up being inspired by paws-bells' Silk Kimono, Hairdryer, and Hanami.


Oh, and Itachi is supposed to be _slightly smiling, but I guess you can't really see that.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed to get that music video!!




Edit: As kindly pointed out, there are no wrinkles on Itachi's face. _{(Botox? XD)}

Actually, though, I didn't add the wrinkles in because every time I tried to draw them on, the perspective on Itachi's face would get skewed.




Silk Kimono, Hairdryer, Hanami (c) paws-bell
Naruto (c) Masashi Kishimoto
Artwork (c) stoic-green