Title: Reiterated

Author: AppleL0V3R

Beta-reader: Terror-Of-The-Crimson-Night

Fandom: Naruto and Trinity Blood

Pairing: Uchiha, Itachi and Blanchet, Esther

Rating: T

Type: One-Shot – Complete

Summary: Itachi shrank to a crouch, ducking as Esther struck the floor, skidding in an awkward roll. He couldn't help himself, "I told you to duck, not roll."

Theme: 7 Crossovers LJ challenge (#6 – Duck and Roll)

Word Count: 1,415

Disclaimer: If you've heard of it before, then it's obviously not mine.

Note: This one-shot is based of the anime of Trinity Blood, not the manga however I'm not using how it ends with Esther being a queen, that simply wouldn't work for me. And if Itachi seems a little OOC, my apologies.

..:Xx0o0xX:..

He heard it knew it was coming before she did.

But he waited to react because he could afford to. The two of them had been partners long enough that she relied completely on him for things she couldn't see or hear because his senses were a whole lot sharper than hers would ever be. But that was merely because of his past profession, being a shinobi caused the tendency of always knowing who was near and how close and how much of a threat they were.

So as the two of them sat of at a small silver table, him drinking his green tea and her munching on bread he glanced up into too blue eyes, "Duck."

She blinked. Clearly he'd caught her off guard like usual. One would think she would get used to his mannerisms, especially with this, but it always took her moment to process. That was why he'd picked up the habit of giving her that moment before she really did need to react, after all, he couldn't save her every time. And she was too capable of taking care of herself for him to see the need to. But every now and again, even with the precaution she didn't move fast enough.

Like now. When Itachi shrank to a crouch, ducking, Esther was knocked off her feet. Her body was suspended in midair only for a few moments but it seemed to go in slow motion before her body finally struck the floor, skidding in an awkward roll. She stopped almost at his feet while their newest opponent stood before them, clearly excited by what it had done to his partner. He felt a niggling irritation at the notion, but he was a trained AX member, he would not allow such things to get to him when he should be focus on taking this Methuselah down.

But when a glance at the still recovering girl proved too much temptation and he couldn't help himself, "I told you to duck, not roll."

He heard her soft growl and had to consciously refrain from even so much as smirking at her antics. It was so much fun to ruffle the redhead's feathers, to watch fury spark to life in her eyes. She quickly climbed to her booted feet, "Just wait, I'll get you back for that."

And he couldn't help but wonder if she was talking to him, or the Methuselah. "Focus, Esther." It didn't really matter anyway, he supposed.

She hummed in a way that he knew meant she was trying not to murder him because they had a job to do. So, settling himself back into that slight crouch he waited for their opponent to start. Of course, it didn't need to, not when the redhead yanked out both of her silver guns and charged forward.

Again he resisted the urge to show emotion, this was typical of his partner and he'd grown far too used to it to mind her reckless tendencies. Though, he did mind when he had to bandage some wound because she hadn't been able to keep up enough to not get hurt even though she had started it. Which was more or less why he preferred more to support her rather than actually fight. As long as she didn't get so much as a scratch on her, he didn't care who took the opponent down.

But even as he moved forward, taking his part as her shadow, he couldn't help but think about how they'd ended up like this. How he'd become her partner when she'd had a very capable one before him.

Esther hadn't hesitated to tell him about Father Nightroad and how the two of them had gotten along quite well, even if she had felt sheltered and not as strong as her silver haired former partner. But said man had been a Crusnik and had a brother problem to take care of before he could work with her once more. The young nun still kept contact with the Father as well as with the Methuselah that was traveling with him. Itachi couldn't say he minded, after all, he still kept in contact with his own team and little brother.

Coincidentally, at the time that she'd been left without a partner, he'd just joined the agency and had the luck of being placed with her.

As the Methuselah before them darted forward, dodging the bullets Esther shot at him, Itachi shifted to the side to wait for it to get closer. When he deemed him close enough, he struck out from behind Esther with his sword, shoving it straight through the windpipe of their enemy. Just as quickly as he'd moved, he was yanking the weapon back and out of the redhead's sight as the enemy fell before them.

Keeping his eyes on the enemy just a little longer to make sure he didn't get back up, but he could tell that he had been inexperienced and was probably already dead. As he allowed the Sharingan to recede back to black he turned to his partner intent on making sure she was just fine.

There was a scratch on her jaw line from when she had hit the ground, but it wasn't deep enough to be anymore than an angry red. Relief flooded him at the knowledge that it was a minor wound and wasn't even bleeding, but he wasn't going to let it slip by him. Grasping her wrist, he pulled her back to the chair and knelt down where the overturned table had been.

She huffed and crossed her arms, "I'm fine, Itachi."

Searching his bag, he produced a small kit with a red cross on it. He'd never been one to hold on to such things because he had never found it necessary, but with how much trouble Esther could get in he'd started carrying it since he'd already had it anyway. Before he'd left, his little brother's pink haired teammate had given it to him as a means to tell him to be safe. She would probably be happy to know it was being used.

Itachi proceeded to start cleaning the wound as if she'd never spoken. Again she huffed, though she didn't try to push him away, "You know, if you'd given me a better warning than 'duck' you wouldn't have to do this."

"I gave you ample time to realize what I meant." Pulling his hand back, he used the other to grasp her chin, angling it so that he could observe his handy work. When he was satisfied that it was good enough, he put everything back where it went and stood.

All the while her glare had been ignored until he met her eyes once more. Arching an eyebrow at her expense, he held out his hand for her.

Blue eyes narrowed, but she placed her hand in his anyway, letting him tug her to her booted feet. When he was sure she was steady he let go and took a step back, grabbing the small pack that he'd brought with him. Still ignoring the mess that the area had become, he started off towards their destination at a saunter.

He heard the sharp but hurried clicks of heels as his redhead rushed after him, settling into step once she was beside him. With a glance he saw the smile on her face and let his shoulders relax. He couldn't explain it but he felt better when he knew she was happy. He didn't say or do anything when she looped her arm through his, clutching his sleeve with her hand as she did so.

Days like these were nice, with the sun shining, the threat dealt with and his partner by his side.