Hello~! Hopeless write here! Yessssh I am starting yet another project (fear not though I am not giving up on Running!) No rather this is me trying my hand at a new relationship in an AU. My lovely UnluckyKat has given me a bit of encouragement to try and make bi monthly drabbles with these two and so I will try!
I hope you enjoy!:
Eighteen. Nearly five years to the day. So much time had passed.
"Itachi, I can practically see your thoughts." Five years. How many weeks was that. How many minutes since the decimation of his once family? "Yo. The amount of angst you're leaking right now-," Five years. Hundreds of deaths. And one spectral companion. Itachi cut said companions commentary off with a pointed look.
Today his "partner" looked fairly healthy. Healthy, being a relative term considering the other mans living status: dead. His curly hair was dry, there was still no colour to his grey complexion but at least he had eyes today. Itachi deemed his comments to be dramatized. He never looked that healthy when he was truly stressed out.
The Uchiha shifted a few documents to the "out" box. He paused, contemplating that fact that it had taken him four years to become director of the ANBU unit. His eyes scanned his dim office. It was sparsely decorated with two chairs situated in front of his desk and a bulletin board hung on the opposite wall. Behind him were two long windows that let the late afternoon sun slip into the concrete room. He had a few filing cabinets. There were no photos or indication of outside life anywhere to be found in the room. Itachi refused to taint any memories of his private life with his job.
"Oi! Itachi," the teenager sighed.
"You're not real." He spoke idly signing off on paperwork, "Talking to you would only prove counter productive in convincing everyone I do not need a psych-evaluation." His lips pressed in a hard line at the sound of his companions "Tsk." Really he knew the man before him was long dead. Clearly, he was some projection of his own ruined conscious.
"All you have to do is lighten up Itachi." he listened to the man cross the room to sit in of the chairs. "People are worried. You're young. Go out man!" Whether Itachi could say he was pleased about his appearance was thoroughly up to debate. His companion grunted softly as Itachi's taciturn silence stretched on. Quiet scraps of his sandals filled the room accompanied only by the tick of Itachi's cat clock.
Itachi repressed a reflexive jerk when his door whipped open. His expression was as stoic as ever when he followed the pair of hands that appeared aggressively appeared in his peripheral vision on his desk. He locked eyes with a particularly aggravated Shiranui Genma. Lurking behind the older jounin his companion ghosted the man's stance. Itachi noted the dirt smudged along the jaw he had once kissed.
"Pip squeak," Itachi raised his eyebrow used to the nickname, "Wolf and Monkey are going at it again." As if on cue a loud crash sounded from the next room. His companion drifted through the wall only to tumble back in doubled over laughing. Itachi could feel his eyes move to give him a reprimanding look. He was also aware of Genma's watchful expression.
"Itachi! Man you've gotta see what they did this time!" His companion's smile made something twist in Itachi's chest.
"So deal with it." Itachi replied tersely. He would just pretend not to notice the hardened look in his comrades eyes. Genma sighed after a moment, shaking his head tiredly.
"Whatever." He walked to the door pausing before opening it. "We're all going for dango later." Itachi nodded.
"Please leave your report." Itachi murmured turning back to his paperwork. They were always trying to get him to go out. Always inviting him to different gatherings. He rarely went. Social interaction had become...a chore.
"Damnit..." Genma muttered rushing out of the room. Itachi ignored him in lieu of taking in his companion's new expression.
A feeling itachi equated with some form of guilt dribble into his stomach. Quickly Itachi cleared his throat. His companion's coal eyes were too focused on him. A furrow formed between delicate eyebrows. Itachi ignored the obvious showdown taking place in the lounge next door along with the sadness set in his companion's mouth.
The silence was deafening.
"Itachi," his companion's tone was a stern. Itachi could see the disapproval in the tense lines of his companion's body language as he sat on the corner of his desk. It was a tone reserved for when he used to be a little too harsh on Sasuke. Or when he let his workaholic ways dominate his life. The way he was now. "It's time to pick Sasuke up." he said pointing to the clock. Itachi glanced at the clock
"Hn." Itachi standing, risked a glance at his companion. He smiled which only served to give Itachi's chest a hollow pang.
Five years. Hundreds of deaths. Three words and one sacrifice.
"You always over thought things." His companion laughed. It sounded distorted. Gurgled, as if choked by water. Itachi feared he could not remember his real laugh.
" Hn." Itachi ro lled his eyes. "I guess I'll take Sasuke for some dango."
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