Itachi on Hinata, and an idea that just won't let him alone. Companion piece to "Crush", as requested. 600 words.

Imagined

She was such a little girl when he knew her that he didn't really give her much thought until it occurred to him – an idle thought, nothing worth remembering – that his brother might choose her to help him restore their family. His first reaction wasn't to wonder whether the sharingan or the byakugan would dominate, but anger. He'd never really wanted to kill Sasuke, but if he claimed Hinata…

The anger was surprising, sudden enough that he almost went into mangenkyou with no opponent, and he had to wonder at himself. Why be so possessive of a girl he hadn't seen since she was barely more than a baby, who had annoyed him more often than not by her inability to stand up to her parents, the way she had seemed to look up to him, adore him, follow him around everywhere, even more than Sasuke had done—

He realized abruptly that he had spared Sasuke because he reminded him of Hinata, and that he'd made him watch and rewatch their family's deaths because he'd been angry that he wasn't Hinata. That shook him, and he gave up wondering at his anger, his possessiveness, because they were obviously completely irrational.

But he was still angry at Sasuke over something in his imagination, so he tried to calm himself down. Sasuke wouldn't marry Hinata. For one, there was the question of sharingan versus byakugan, and the kid wouldn't take a chance like that. For two, by all reports Hinata seemed to be making eyes not at Sasuke but at Naruto—

He almost went into mangenkyou again at that, but controlled himself.

—but at Naruto, who wasn't an opponent because he was going to die when they extracted the Kyuubi. For three, their respective families had always encouraged closeness, not between Sasuke and Hinata, but between he, Itachi, and Hinata. He calmed and sighed, closing his eyes and giving himself a good bonk on the forehead for getting involved in irrational emotions.

For four, he added almost as an afterthought, Sasuke's not there. He's gone to Orochimaru.

Still, Itachi wondered, if he returned to Konoha, not by front gate like he had before, but in secret, and saw Hinata, and asked her, would she come with him?

His heart twisted in a way usually reserved for overexertion, and he put a hand to it, eyes still closed, imagining it. He'd caught a glimpse of her last time he'd been, he knew roughly what she looked like now, and he could make up the rest. He was good at imagining things, had been ever since he lost proper sight to the constant sharingan.

He shook off the image, opening his eyes again and trying to focus again on the task at hand, ever more training. He was alone this time, for which he was thankful. He didn't feel like an opponent when Sasuke and Naruto were too close to the top of his mind, and there had been nobody to see his rather dramatic and sudden stop. He started again and carried through, deliberately keeping his mind blank, working himself a little harder than he should, perhaps, but all in all, a satisfactory day. It was not the place for Hinata. She deserved the village with all its people, weaker, but better for the soul than the Akatsuki.

Later, as he was falling asleep, it came to him: if he went and asked, and she came with him, and he kissed her, would she kiss him back?

Would she…?

He was thankful again for being alone when he woke up the next morning.

end
.: and you don't know why, but she's all you need :.