It was raining, a dark and gloomy winter day, but the quaint coffee shop offered a warm glow to the gray street. As the man opened the door into the shining place, filled with people escaping the rain, the familiar bell chimed and the worker at the counter smiled at him, "Welcome back, Mr. Uchiha." Without him saying anything, the worker quickly began his usual drink, and the man smirked; he came here way too much if he just had to walk in to get his drink. "Here you are." Another worker, familiar but her name escaped him, came and handed him a cup filled with black coffee, pure, black coffee. "Thanks." He nodded to her, pulled out his credit card and swiped it; he was a man of few words and extremely efficient. Shaking his dark, damp hair a bit, he went and sat down in his usual spot by the window and next to the plugs; he was Uchiha Itachi and always had work to do, he couldn't afford something as annoying as lack of battery power. Over the murmur of voices, the bell chimed again, and a woman with fiery, orange hair walked in, her dark eyes filled with relief to be out of the rain. If Itachi had the mindset of an average male, his first thought would be that she was lovely, but he didn't so his first thought was whether she dyed her hair or not and whether she had an umbrella or not, she looked rather wet. After contemplating those things, he finally came to the conclusion that she was an intriguing character, what more could you expect from an Uchiha than that? "Hello, Ai, what a rainy day it's been." She was speaking to the worker at the counter, so that was her name...or was it the name of the other worker he forgot? "You got that right, it's been non-stop! Give me a second, I'll have your drink right out." So this orange-head was a regular as well, Itachi mused to himself, but how come he's never seen her before; even if he was an Uchiha, he would never forget that hair. "Here you are, Yuuka." The other worker handed her a drink and she smiled, "Thanks, Hotaru." Ai and Hotaru...which one was which again? After the transaction, the woman, Yuuka as he know knew her name, left the counter in search of a place to sit, and the place happened to be directly in front of him. "Excuse me," she asked, she didn't seem shy at all, "do you mind if I sit here? My battery for my lap top is dying." Itachi raised his eyebrow, he guessed it was common courtesy to ask, but if she needed it she should have just sat down. "I don't mind." Again, Itachi was a man of few words to the general public. "Thanks." Taking off her raincoat, she sat down and plugged in her laptop, beginning to scroll through whatever she was working on. Staring at his own screen, Itachi realized he hadn't completed any work since he got here; perhaps this was too distracting of an environment, especially with an interesting character in front of him. Trying to take his mind of the woman, he found his gaze wandering to her drink, it was a lighter color than his and it had a pungent, earthy scent, something very outstanding and bold. At this moment, Itachi was not aware that Yuuka was studying his own drink as well, her lips formed in a confused pout. 'That can't really be straight, black coffee, can it?' she thought to herself quietly, making sure not to attract the man's attention. Who drinks such a bitter thing? The said man across the table was thinking along the same lines: who would drink such a mixed up thing? At once, the two looked up and notice, quite sheepishly, that other was staring at their drink and they had both been caught; they both probably looked quite strange. "I'm sorry," Yuuka broke the awkwardness first, "you just looked like someone I know and then I saw your coffee..." She trailed off, she wasn't good at this. "Who do I remind you of?" Itachi wanted to steer the conversation away from the strange occurrence; he wasn't quite sure how to explain himself, everything about her was weird...in an interesting way. "Ah, well, you remind me of one of my students. I'm the nurse at Konoha Academy, actually, and you two share similar qualities." Ever so slightly, Itachi's eyes widened a bit, he knew who she was talking about, "You may be thinking of Uchiha Sasuke, he is my kid brother." The two haven't got along since Sasuke entered junior high, there was a lot of internal strife in the Uchiha house; he doubted that Sasuke ever talked about him. "Oh my, of course, I see it clearly now! Then that means you must be Uchiha Itachi, what a coincidence meeting you here, it's nice to meet you." She smiled at him, not a feminine smile he had grown used to, but a warm smile like a dear friends', and it was contagious; Itachi felt his mouth twitch into a smirk. "Likewise, and you are?"
"Oh, right, I'm Kagame Yuuka, and I already told you I'm the nurse at Konoha Academy. Sasuke is doing great, by the way, he has two good friends by his side and he excels in his classes." The Uchiha blinked, had she so easily figured out he was worried in the short time they spoke? "I know it's not my place as a person, but, as a teacher, I became aware of your family's current situation. You rarely get to see him, right? I'm sorry." His gaze became downcast, it was true, his father had left the family and turned the entire Uchiha franchise to him, and he had to make some cruel choices to maintain peace in and out of the family, but not with Sasuke. "I don't need your apology. What's done is done." Leaning his head against his hand, he turned towards the window, a sign that he was done talking to her, but Yuuka wasn't done talking to him, "He doesn't hate you, not as much as he wants you to believe. He's a teenager, change isn't easy for them at this age, they need stability."
"Which is something I can't provide." Despite himself, he reentered the conversation, who did she think he was? Telling him about Sasuke, rubbing in the fact that she probably knew more about him than himself, Sasuke's own brother, just who did she think she was? "Stability isn't just a home with a mom, a dad, and a brother, stability in a family is where one knows that there is someone you can go to when you need them, that there is something you can hold onto. Itachi, I've known Sasuke for a long time and-"
"You're just his teacher, no, you're just someone who works in the school, you have no right to be involved in Sasuke's personal life, or mine." Yuuka looked taken aback at Itachi's sudden show of emotion, but it only compelled her more, "I may just be what you say I am, but that doesn't change the fact that you want a relationship with him just as much as he wants one with you and I want you to see that! He needs you Itachi, stop ignoring him!" The whole argument seemed like something between warring parents; it reminded Itachi of his own parents long ago. 'Stop pressuring him so much, Itachi is just a child!'
'He's going to be head of the family one day, he must be prepared for that, it's part of being an Uchiha.'
'Well, being with friends is part of being a child...' Sighing, Itachi covered his eyes, "You're one of those people, that person who really care about their students, aren't you?"
"Yes, but I suppose I should apologize for speaking so boldly in front of you about your own brother." He raised his free hand, "No...no...it's ok." When Sasuke was born, Itachi didn't want him to have the same life he had, friendless, always working, and then he, himself, had carved a rift of hatred in his little brother; he had become another wall for Sasuke to overcome. "Perhaps," he opened his eyes and looked at her, "perhaps I should try to at least talk with him, but...I don't what to say to him; I've never been good at connecting with people." Her small laugh made him blink, did she find that amusing? "I don't always know what to say either," she spoke kindly, she laughed because she was somewhat relieve, "but if you want to get your feelings across, you'll find a way, and sometimes, when you really need it, you'll find the words you're looking for out of the blue. Besides, I hear that Uchiha's a pretty stubborn when they set their mind to something." He couldn't help it, he chuckled, this Yuuka was definitely an interesting woman, in manner and in speech. "Honestly, I don't understand it, but you...you definitely have a way of making people listen to you. Since I'm still listening, why don't suggest the first step I should take towards Sasuke?" She cocked her orange head, and then she smiled, "Why don't you bring him here? After school it's fairly quiet, and he comes here after martial arts practice sometimes." Itachi had to admit, the idea wasn't bad, but he just couldn't imagine talking to Sasuke, actually sitting down and talking to him; they hadn't done that in years. "It'll be fine," Yuuka gave him a radiant smile again, "the least you can do is try; it's the first step to changing."
"You're filled with wise words, you know that?"
"Eh? Oh...um...thanks, Itachi." Red glowed on her cheeks and Itachi have his signature smirk, "Wise words, but not wise actions, you don't have an umbrella, do you?" Yuuka dead panned, was it really that obvious? "I have a bad habit of being caught in the rain...and I lost my umbrella." If Itachi was anyone else, he would have laughed outright, but a chuckle suited him just fine. Reaching into his own coat, he brought out an umbrella and tossed it to her, "Take this."
"What about you, you need it."
"I have two...I was supposed to return this to someone, but I couldn't find them today."
"Really? Well, thank you very much." The two, so absorbed in their conversation, were shocked to see nearly two hours had gone by and neither of them had done anything on their work, and their precious coffee was cold. Immediately, they, first, got more coffee, and then began working in a companionable silence till the early evening turned into late evening. Itachi was the first to shut his lap top and Yuuka a few minutes after, they each felt strange feelings trapped between them as they looked at one another. "This has been quite the day and...now I'm late getting home." Yuuka frowned at her watch and then at the sky, it was still raining. Itachi took this chance out of simple curiosity, "Husband waiting for you?"
"No, I'm single." She was said that in a very flirtatious, hinting manner, cue Uchiha smirk, this woman was more interesting by the second, "Then, how about we meet here next week, same time. You'll need to return the umbrella anyway." Smiling, she nodded, "Sounds great! I'm going to want to hear about your conversation with Sasuke, so be prepared." He nodded and the two walked out into the rain, chatting about this and that with coffee in hand. "My house is that way." Yuuka said, pointing right. "I have to take the train home." Itachi said, pointing left. The two stared at each other in silence, the rain drumming on their umbrellas, neither wanted to leave. "Until next time, Yuuka." This time, it was Itachi who broke the silence, and he turned, leaving Yuuka, unknowingly, glowing red; it was the first time he said her name. "Goodbye, take care." Her voice held her smile as she turned and walked down the sidewalk.
Since that day, Yuuka and Itachi met every Sunday at the coffee shop, discussing their week and Itachi's attempts to form a bond with Sasuke, which seemed to be getting steadily better with time. Whether or not they were officially dating, neither would say, but there was definitely a bond between them, a bond of companionship only found between those who share a cup of coffee.