A/N: To Willowdance. She reminded me to write again.
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Chapter 1
Curious thing, time is.
I am living in a world where I was considered to be one of the species of higher intelligence. Cars, planes, and computers appear every single day. Rockets and space stations are floating around in outer space. It is the year 20XX.
I am at an age where all my female friends have... that is to say, boyfriends, lovers, affairs; whatever you want to call it- intimate relationship with the opposite sex. It's not a particularly special thing, however, to start a relationship. But it takes an amount of trust and a level of commitment that I'm just simply not ready for. I do not deny, however, that none of the guys around me are fit for my eyes, and those who are, are taken or out of the country. Perhaps even then, I felt something was waiting for me, and despite my nature, I wait patiently for it.
Everything began, one wonderful day, under the cherry blossom tree, where it's almost as romantic as it is cheesy, with petals dancing and winds blowing.
I was talking and chatting with a group of my girl friends at lunch in my campus courtyard, when someone spotted a guy walking towards us.
Of course, it's not a surprise when guys come to talk to us. All my friends are quite pretty. I do admit, even when choosing friends I befriend those who are pleasing to my eyes, although I cannot say I am pretty myself, but as long as I do not make other cringe, I am satisfied. The thing is, though, when a friend of mine actually points to a guy and whispers, then giggles, I knew this guy was going to be special.
It's nearly the temperature of boiling water outside, however, as I looked wards the direction of my friend's pointy fingers, I saw a guy, walking towards us, dressed in all black. The curious fact of why he's dressed in black jacket and black pants are ignored, because of his face and body. Of course I suspect at that time most of us were gawking at him. He held an air-an air of superiority and aristocracy. Not in the common sense, but in the sense that everything and everyone here is under his control and rule. Every bit of him was overwhelming to us, yes that's the word, overwhelming, because for when I laid eyes my eyes on him, for the first ten seconds, I forgot to breathe.
He stopped when he was around five meters away from us, by this time every member of our little circle has all stopped what we are doing to stare at him.
He has fairly long black hair, his bangs hanging on down from his face. He has delicate and graceful features, but not effeminate, because his eyes defy those accusations. I had a feeling if looks could kill, he could glare at everybody here and we'd all be dead. Despite his efforts to appear harmless and calm, he still overwhelmed me, because he could be dead for all I care, for he is a piece of art that Kami abandoned.
He should appear in a manga book, where all male characters are inhumanly beautiful, and later, once again, I had to compliment on my instincts.
"Hello." He smiled at us and said softly.
Several of us gasped dramatically. His voice itself sounds like silk. The kind of voice where it sounds like honey was dripping on velvet. I blinked at him, and then quickly went back to my lunch and ate as fast as possible.
"Hi!"
"Hello!"
"Well, look, what do we have here...?"
Immediately my friends are surrounding him, and as fellow females of the twentieth first century, they showed much enthusiasm and initiative. He did not show any sign of displeasure, instead he conversed with them with grace. I sat still and listened to their conversation.
"So... What's your name?" Naomi asked, her eyes sparkling.
"Uchi-It's Itachi."
"Are you a student here too? What year?"
"Third."
"Whoa, what major?"
"Arts, mostly. What about you?" He tilts his head and smiled slightly, his lips curve in a fashion that made us all stare directly at it. His eyes narrowed at us, as if holding a pool of water that's so deep one could get lost staring into it. His question bounced us back to our territory-girls love talking about themselves.
And everyone begin to introduce themselves.
"What do you think?" Mei asked me in a whisper.
"Nine." I said while finishing the last of my lunch.
"...Whoa, that's the highest yet." Mei said.
"Because he's smart." I said
It is true. Judging from what I have seen so far, he had a purpose for being here. If he did not, then he would not put up with their... swooning over him. I hope my friends do have and use brains of their own and don't go crazy over him. I really do not want to have one of them showing up at my door in the middle of the night with a suit case and a pathetic expression on their face that clearly said "I've been dumped."
"So what do you want?" I asked bluntly after finishing my yogurt.
"...Miss..." He smiled at me, and looked startled.
"My name is Chiro, Arai." I said in a kind way. Thinking that if he can act, I could act better, and possibly I am jealous of how in a few minutes he won my friends over, and I admit, I have issues with intimacy.
He did something that surprised us all. Everybody stopped their chattering when he was suddenly quiet. He closed his eyes and breathed out deeply, then smiled.
When he smiles, it seems like the whole world would lit up right there. But it's also strange. Why he smiles like that, as if he is suppressing something inside of him for a very long time, and let it out piece by piece, instead of exploding it all out.
"My name is Itachi. Uchiha Itachi." He said to me kindly. "I was looking for you."
I might want to point out, at that time; none of us girls cared about Naruto. Therefore we have absolutely no idea who he is. Although it is very bold and sad that he didn't even bother to hide his name.
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It's been three month since I have met him
Alright, I admit, I lacked brains back then. Because on that day on campus, I found out he doesn't have a place to live in permanent. I was stupid and hot headed enough to blurt out, "Do you want to be roommates?"
And so I spent the entire afternoon showing him my student apartment and the rules of the place. To my surprise, he paid his deposit up front without hesitation. I honestly don't know what I was thinking back then, because whatever I was thinking must be influenced by him. I once amused myself with the idea of him having some sort of mind reading abilities that could make anyone who is as clever and awesome as I am (I must emphasize, back then, I was stupid) to fall head over heels for him.
I found that he is surprisingly well educated in the history of Japan, in the weaponry area. He is highly intelligent-to the point of making me feel like a fool. Any conversation we engage in must conclude as agreements on my end. I often find myself screaming and yelling at him to prove my pathetic point, while he simply smiles and the whole world just ... melts. He always smiles when facing anyone. That light smile that would dazzle anybody he wanted to dazzle. As if he doesn't know he has the power to dazzle others, he uses that smile almost all the time when facing strangers. Like our first serious conversation:
"If you think I am going to fall heads over heel for you like all my other friends then-"
Smile, "Did I say that?"
"...Well, if you have any ill intentions and mean any harm to me or the people around me-"
Smile, "Why would I have any ill intentions?"
"...I hate you."
Smile.
"...Stop smiling!"
"Why?"
"It's annoying!"
"...Oh. Do you mean that you already has fallen in love with me but don't want to admit it because it would be against your philosophy to fall in love with a stranger you have never met before?" And then - smile.
"..." It is at that time, I realized he is evil. He is not only evil; he is very, very evil.
"Do you want to go out with me?"
I almost chocked. No wait, I did choke- on a sip from a bottle of diet coke.
"Why would I go out with a stranger?" I asked him crossly, after I coughed for like two minutes, and he sat there looking at me with a smile on his face.
He said gently, "What are you talking about? We're not strangers."
When he said that, I almost saw a hint of his true emotion. Is it regret? Is it disgust? I'll never know, because at that point I am no match for him.
"What?" I asked.
"I mean- We've known each other for 7 hours, right?"
"..."
And that was our first conversation. I don't remember ever agreeing to it, but somehow I'm showing him to my parents and my friends. We always went out together, and the feeling was addictive. I should've known he had immense power over me. So much, that it's making me doing everything towards he asks unconsciously.
He is like a sun-a sun that envelops and lights up everyone around him. He has the capacity of an ocean, which I find extraordinary. I was too selfish and he is too good for me, this feeling came almost every time he opens his mouth. I, being a young woman entitled to her opinion, would argue about things that sounded so foolish later on. For example, one of the arguments I remembered most distinctively is the issue on peace in an article.
"Look at this; it says here the president sent death squads to Africa."
He looks at me with a puzzled look on his face; this is a rare occasion in which I see him being puzzled. I snicker, then explained, "It's that there's a group of team designated for a suicide mission. Usually the government doesn't allow these articles to appear ..."
"What's wrong with that?" He asks, while peeling an apple I asked him to. I don't particularly enjoy apples, but I love looking at him peeling it. He is talented with knives and any kind of cutlery, and as if that should've rang a bell in my mind...
"It isn't fair, for those involved. Suicide missions are just cruel and inhumane."
I will never forget the look he gives me, as if one of extreme pain and sorrow. His eyes filled with emotion as he sets down his knife, while taking a slice of apple and fed it to me. I chewed on it while staring at him. He smiled and asked, "Is it good?"
I could only nod randomly, and that's when he leaned over and kissed me.
It tasted like apples.
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After three month I practically was facing enemies on all sides. Everyone I care about doesn't like him that much.
"You don't know anything about him! Where does he work? What does he do? His race and religion... His monthly income (...) What if he decided to ditch you?" That was from my mom.
And so when I got home I asked him playfully, "What do you do for a living?"
He thought about it and said, "I'm an assassin."
I roared with laughter.
He smiles lightly and didn't say anything.
"What is your monthly income?"
"Any amount I wish it to be."
"Where do you work?"
"Anywhere I wish to work."
"Do you believe in god?"
"No."
"Are you going to ditch me?"
He didn't say anything, but caressed my face and said, "No."
It's the first time that he lied to me, and I realized later that lying once meaning lying over and over again...
He was always going through books about history, philosophy, and weapons. I was under the impression that he was searching for something. But whenever I asked about it, he always smiles, and that alone, is enough to take my breath away.
I love spending time with him, I love cuddling against him, and I love tracing the outline of his lips, his neck, his muscles... I love watching him cook for me, and I especially love it when I can't reach something high up in the cupboards, he comes behind me and snakes his arms around me, and the rest just rolls on from there.
I feel as if he is a scientist, dissecting me and exposing me bare on his table, and looking into my inner most self. He knows of my habits, my practices, my... everything, practically. Foolish as I was, I did not give it a second thought except to pride myself in congratulating on finding such a wonderfully observant boyfriend.
I had no concept of marriage at the time, but I distinctively remember, if there ever was a commitment to be made to last a life time, that was it.
Until...
"I'm leaving for a while." He said one day.
"Where are you going?" I asked, sit up from the couch.
"To the place where I belong." He said, and kissed my forehead. "Chiro, I want to give you something that has been passed down in my family for generations..."
He then handed me a pendent. It was a small charm in the shape of a leaf.
"What's this?"
"A charm. I think it will protect you from harm." His hands slid over my neck to put it on, "Keep it safe."
"When are you coming back?" I thought, at the time, that him leaving was the equivalent of him going downstairs and get donuts.
"A little later. I'll see you again." He said.
And when he walked out of that door, I felt that I was never going to see him again.
Then the realization slowly sinks into me after that day. He didn't come back ever since. The only thing he left-to prove his existence- was the small leaf shaped pendent.
"I knew you guys wouldn't last." Mei commented.
I glared at her. Finally I was beginning to lead a normal life, but she was ruining it.
"You guys are too much alike." She said.
"..."
"There was always something... Something strange. You both are really kind..."
"Ahahahaha..." If that guy is kind, then I am an angel.
From the first time that we met, I chose him, I chose him to be mine forever, none other. And how did that affect me? Look at me now. I am practically one of my friends who showed up on my doorstep with their suit case and with a pathetic expression written all over their face that clearly says, "I've been dumped."
Oh my god. I've been dumped.
I jumped up from the couch, the chips that were lying on my laps flew away, and lying on the other side of the room.
"What?" Mei asked, while cleaning up the mess I made.
"What is that?" I pointed to the TV.
There was a commercial about Naruto. The DVD version was released outside of Japan.
"Naruto." Mei said naturally, "I kind of liked it. Hey! There is this really cool kid's brother resembles your boyfriend, but he is a mass murderer, and he never smiles, Uchiha-san, I mean. Not him…hey! They even have the same name… Oh no, he gave you a fake name! Poor Chiro… he must be addicted to Naruto too, then…"
I turned to stone.
"I'm an assassin."
"I'm going back to where I belong..."
From that moment on, I decided the next time that I see him; I'm going to kill him.
That is, if I could.
I began to dive desperately in to the world of Naruto. I read every chapter, watched every episode, and found that Kishimoto wrote a lot of crap, and the only thing I cared about was like... 80 episodes later.
In that moment, I decided that I was going. I was going to the Universe of Naruto to find him, and then kill him.
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A/N: Edited version.