A young woman stood outside of her shop, sweeping the front, when she became aware of a stranger entering her peripheral vision. A man wearing a black cloak with red clouds and a jingisa. Definitely not a member of her village. How strange. It was very rare that outsiders would come here. More accurately, it was strange that they would come to this street, which wasn't basically overflowing with medicine shops and stands like everywhere else. Seeing that nobody else in the area was overly willing to approach him, she walked over to the man.

"Good afternoon." She greeted politely as she approached him, "My name is Amai. May I ask what brings you to this place?"

The man turned to acknowledge her, and Amai quickly realized two things: One, this stranger was only a teenager, about her own age, and two, he was blind, or at least, did not have the greatest vision.

"I've come here to obtain some Kotarō." The man replied, "Can you tell me how to reach the shop where it is sold?"

The young woman frowned slightly and looked thoughtful. It wasn't that she was unwilling to help, but... how does one give directions to a blind man? She finally sighed and simply said, "Follow me." Before turning and walking ahead of the man, who quickly followed her. "If you've come to obtain Kotarō, then you're lucky that I was the one who greeted you first. A member of the Sendō clan would've gladly sold you a counterfeit that is very addictive and dangerous. There's only one place in town that you can buy the real thing, but... most of the people want nothing to do with them."

"I take it you don't mind though?" The stranger asked. Amai shook her head.

"It's believed that their father was responsible for a tragedy that happened a few years ago, but... even if that is the case... children shouldn't be judged for the actions of their parents. In my experience, the Kodon brothers are far more trustworthy than anyone from the Sendō Clan. Yet, despite their illegal activities being public knowledge, you don't see the village ostracizing them. At least, I should think that its public knowledge. They don't really behave in too covert of a manner. But then again..." She shook her head, "Never mind. I'm rattling on about things that you probably aren't interested in."

"Judging by your words, I presume you hold the opposite opinion. You despise the Sendō Clan, but are fond of the Kodon brothers."

"I wouldn't say 'fond' is the right word. I respect them, yes, but it's not as if we know each other well." Amai replied before opening the door to a small shop called Rengyōdō and knocking on the doorframe. "Reishi-kun, Kina-chan, you have a customer."

There were two boys in the shop. It was the older of the two who addressed Amai first. "Amai-neesan. It's rare that you come here."

"I was just showing this man the way." Amai said as she stepped aside to let the stranger in.

The older boy walked forward, the younger one following at his heels, "Welcome. I'm Reishi. What brings you to our shop?"

"...My name is Itachi." The stranger began slowly, "My... physician... recommended that I come here to obtain this." He held out a piece of paper to Reishi, who accepted it, then sucked in his breath when he read it.

"Coarse Kotarō, to be compounded for use as eye drops..." Reishi looked up at Itachi, "...Are you sure? Coarse Kotarō can have some severe side effects. Used in this manner... it may cause temporary blindness."

"That's really not a problem, because I am going blind anyway." Itachi said with a shrug, "But he said that the Kotarō would reduce the strain placed on my body by the pain in my eyes, which should help me to live longer."

"I see." Reishi said, "All right then. But it will take several days to make."

"That's fine. I can wait." Itachi said before glancing down the road, squinting his eyes in attempt to get a better look at a building nearby. "Is that building occupied?"

"That's Kodon Shrine." Kina, Reishi's younger brother told him, "It's abandoned."

"I'll stay there until the Kotarō is ready then." Itachi replied.

"All right." Reishi said with a nod, "We'll get started then."

Itachi nodded and left the shop with Amai, both turning to go their separate ways, but then Amai stopped and looked over her shoulder at Itachi, "By the way, I run a tea house near where we met. You're welcome to come by any time."

Itachi nodded, which Amai took as a confirmation that he had heard her more than anything, and they both went on their way.

甘い

The following afternoon, Amai was cleaning a table in her shop when she noticed somebody entering the doorway. "Oh! Itachi-san! Welcome! Please, come in." Itachi nodded and walked in silently before sitting down at a table as Amai approached him, "What will it be? Um... I don't mean to patronize you in any way or something, but... do you need me to read the menu to you, or...?"

"Perhaps another time." Itachi told her, "For today, I'll just have some green tea and botchan dango."

"Coming right up."

Amai was a bit surprised when, as she turned to retrieve his food, Itachi spoke again, "I never told you that my vision was poor, but you seemed to pick up on it right away."

She stopped in her tracks, startled by his statement, before turning back toward him slightly, "I could tell by your eyes."

"My eyes?"

"Yes. When I first approached you after you entered the village, I could see that your eyes were straining to focus. A person's pupils only constrict like that for two reasons. The first is if they are blinded by a bright light. The second is if it is difficult for them to see. Since there weren't any particularly bright lights and your hat shields your eyes from the sun, I realized it had to be the latter."

"Very few people are so observant."

Amai shrugged, "I guess I'm just different. At any rate, have you learned Braille by any chance? If so, I'll try to prepare a Braille menu. That is, if you think you'll come here often."

"I probably will." Itachi said thoughtfully, "My hobby is visiting tea houses like this one to try the sweets they serve. I planned on coming by here every day that I'm in this village. I normally have a traveling companion, so I've never learned Braille, but perhaps I'll take the time to do so."

"I think it would be good to do so." Amai said politely, "While your ability to navigate the world without sight is certainly impressive, there are times when you will find yourself dependent upon others unless you learn it. Do you want sugar with your tea?"

"Yes, thank you."

Amai returned to Itachi's table a moment later and set the tea cup down, along with a tray of dango and a small pot. "You didn't mention whether you wanted adzuki paste with your dango, so I put some on the side, just in case."

"You don't seem to find my taste for sweets to be strange." Itachi commented mildly.

"Why would I?" Amai asked, "A person's appearance and personality have nothing to do with their tastes in food. I don't bother with trying to form preconceptions about my customers. It's not good to judge somebody by your perceptions of them after all." The young woman failed to notice Itachi glancing up at her in slight surprise from beneath his hat.

甘い

"What can you tell me about the girl who runs the tea shop? The one who led me here yesterday?" Itachi asked Reishi and Kina as he dined with them that night at their invitation.

"Amai-neesan?" Reishi asked, frowning in thought. "Her family died about two years ago, she's been on her own since then. She's a kind, sweet girl, and a lot of the people in the village like her, but... She doesn't have anybody to take care of her or look after her..."

"She's always nice to me!" Kina piped up, "She gives me sweets whenever I pass by her store!"

"Is that so?" Itachi said, his eyes looking a bit thoughtful, "What happened to her family?"

"I don't think it's our place to tell you. It's something you should hear from her yourself, if she wishes to tell you." Reishi replied.

甘い

The following day, Itachi once again sat in Amai's shop, this time having a slice of cinnamon log cake with his tea, when a rather rowdy group came in, causing him to glance up in slight annoyance.

"Oh!" Amai exclaimed, hurrying over to welcome the group and bowing to the man in the front, "Welcome, Lord Jiryuu! Please have a seat! I'll take your party's order whenever you wish."

The man nodded to Amai and sat down with his companions. One of them cast a mocking grin at Amai as he sat down, "Why don't you bring us some sake, Amai-chan?"

Amai scrunched up her nose in annoyance, "You know very well that I don't carry sake here. What is the point in serving something I am not old enough to drink?"

The man sighed, "A downer as always. You really should serve it. You'd get more customers if you did, and then you could pay off your debt faster."

"I'd prefer taking longer to pay it to the type of customers serving sake would attract." Amai answered with forced politeness. Itachi narrowed his eyes. Amai owed money to these men? That would explain her evident fear of them, as well as why she was putting up with such a crude group of men to begin with. She seemed like the type who normally would not hesitate to throw out customers who were rude. "I'll begin preparing your tea."

"Just bring us botchan dango, all around, Amai." The man she had called Jiryuu called, "That always goes well with tea."

"Yes sir."

It so happened that Itachi was sitting in a spot where the men couldn't quite see him, so he observed the scene with his ears rather than his eyes, quickly picking up on the slight trembling of Amai's hands. There was also something in her voice. Whereas she was always addressing him warmly and anticipating his needs, she seemed somewhat cold and distant toward these men. Thus far, her entire reception of them had been near ice cold professionalism. That said, with the way they practically demanded her constant attention, combined with her apparent fear regarding them, Amai was forced to practically ignore Itachi. He was fairly certain he could've simply slipped out of the store without her taking notice, but he didn't. Something compelled him to stay.

"By the way, Amai," Jiryuu began as he sipped his tea, "Gohii said that he saw you greeting a stranger who walked into town a couple days ago, and that you took him to Rengyōdō."

Amai sucked in a breath, something Itachi took as a sign of apprehension, before she answered, "Yes, that's right. The man you're speaking of came to town to buy Kotarō."

"You should've brought him to us then." Jiryuu said coldly.

"Forgive me sir, but he came here to buy actual medicine, not mere sengenzai." Amai answered nervously.

"Idiot!" Jiryuu exclaimed while slamming his hand on the table, before standing up and grabbing hold of Amai's wrist, "Did it not occur to you that bringing us a new customer would be a means to lower your debt?!"

"Lord Jiryuu, please! I could never be so selfish as to trick a sick man into taking sengenzai!" Amai's voice has gone from nervous to terrified. What had these men done in the past to make her so afraid of them?

Jiryuu snorted, "Sweet and naive as always. You truly live up to your name, Amai. But do you think I'll let you get away with taking business that could've been ours to those Kodon brats?! You should learn to think of yourself before others!"

Amai whimpered and braced herself, unsure what Jiryuu intended to do, but before he had a chance to attempt anything, a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist. With startling ease, Itachi forced the man to release his grip on Amai before moving in between them.

"Itachi-san!" Amai gasped in surprise.

"Y-You..." Jiryuu managed as he glared at Itachi. Itachi glared back. He had known who this man was right from the start: Sendō Jiryuu, the head of the Sendō Clan, which trafficked an incomplete version of Kotarō throughout Howling Wolf Village. The counterfeit drug had been outlawed because it was dangerous and addictive. The night before, he had ended up protecting Rengyōdō and the Kodon brothers from this man and the thugs in his clan.

"Even if she owes you money," Itachi began evenly, "That doesn't give you the right to lay a hand on her."

Jiryuu's glare hardened as he wrenched his arm from Itachi's grasp, "Oh really?! Guess again! This girl's parents owed my clan a ton of money before they died! Until she pays that off, that girl belongs to me!"

"No, she doesn't." Itachi said without moving from between Amai and Jiryuu, "She may have to give you her earnings, but her life is still her own. Last I checked, slavery is just as illegal as drug trafficking. I suggest you remember that." Itachi was, of course, keenly aware that he of all people should not speak about what was legal and what was not, but something within him was unable to stand by and allow this man to harm an innocent young woman.

Jiryuu gritted his teeth, then turned and stormed out of the cafe, his clansmen quickly following them. Itachi turned to Amai, who had fallen to her knees in terror, and knelt down beside her. "Are you all right?"

"Y-Yes... thank you..." Amai managed before looking up at Itachi, "Remember when I said that my relationship with Reishi and Kina was not quite one of fondness? Lord Jiryuu is the reason why. The truth is, I'm actually very fond of those two, but my... situation... prevents me from really being friends with them."

"I see..." Itachi replied. So that was what Reishi had meant when he said that Amai had nobody to take care of her or watch out for her. He was referring to the debt that she owed the Sendō Clan.

Amai looked down, a light blush coloring her cheeks, which made her momentarily grateful that Itachi could not see very well. "Thank you, Itachi-san... nobody else in town would've dared to stand up to Sendō Jiryuu the way that you did. The eighty-eight torii gates that line the path to our village symbolize that we don't operate in the same way the world does... but sometimes, I can't help but think that that isn't really a good thing."

甘い

As he had said, Itachi went to the tea shop every afternoon, until the day his medicine was ready. The eye drops he had received were supposed to last him at least six months, so he guessed he wouldn't be back for some time. However, a month later, he found his plans changing a bit.

"Where are we at the moment, Kisame?" Itachi asked as he walked beside his partner following their last mission. The shark man had only become his partner shortly after he'd returned from Howling Wolf Village, but they had already become fairly used to each other. Because of his impaired vision, Itachi usually just followed Kisame from one destination to the next.

"Let's see..." Kisame said as he pulled out a map and looked at it, knowing what Itachi was really wanting to know without him saying it, "We're not too far from the Howling Wolf Village. The nearest tea house is probably there."

"Yes, there is one there." Itachi confirmed.

"Oh? You've been there before?" Kisame asked with interest.

"Last month, just before I met you, I went there to obtain some medicine for my eyes, which took a week for the pharmacist to prepare. I ate at the tea house during the afternoons."

Kisame was used to Itachi's hobby by now, so he shrugged, "All right. We don't have a new mission yet, so let's go there."

The instant they passed through the door, Amai looked up from the table she was clearing. "Welcome—Oh! Itachi-san! I didn't think you'd be back so soon!"

"I was in the area, so I thought I'd come by." Itachi said plainly.

"Itachi-san likes to eat at places like this as often as possible." Kisame said with mild amusement.

Amai blinked, "Who is this? Your associate?"

"Yeah." Itachi replied as he sat down, and Amai handed a menu to each of them.

"This is the Braille menu I promised you." She told the Uchiha.

"Yeah, thanks."

Despite his usually observant personality, the teenager failed to notice that Kisame seemed more interested in watching the two of them than in reading the menu.

"Looks like that was a large crowd that just left." The former Kirinin remarked as he took note of the large number of dishes Amai had returned to clearing from another table. "Was someone throwing a party?"

"I wish it were something so pleasurable..." Amai muttered, half-answering him and half speaking to herself.

"Were they bothering you again?" Itachi asked without looking up from the menu, even though he couldn't see it.

"I'm sorry to say that they're always bothering me." Amai remarked, "They're in here at least once a week, literally laughing at my expense."

"What do you mean?" Itachi asked.

"I mean they never pay a single ryo." She'd apparently forgotten that Kisame was there, "Supposedly they subtract it from my debt, but I'm not convinced they actually do. Even if they are, it would be easier if they would just pay me so that I can replace what they eat and then give them my profits like with every other customer. They eat more than anybody else... Honestly..." She muttered as she picked up the last dish and headed back into the kitchen with the load before returning to Itachi and Kisame. "So what will it be?"

"I'll have the strawberry cake and my usual tea." Itachi told her.

"I'll be good with some umeboshi and tea." Kisame told her.

Amai made a slight face at the combination, but quickly replied, "Coming right up."

"Oh, and ojouchan, I don't suppose you have any seafood available?" Kisame remarked.

"No, I'm afraid that I don't carry seafood here." Amai told him.

"A pity."

Itachi's eyes instinctively drifted toward the sound of Amai's footsteps heading into the kitchen. Something in her voice told him that there was more to it than that, but now was hardly the time to ask her. He needed to avoid showing direct interest in her more than he already had, if only because he had taken notice of Kisame's apparent interest in their acquaintanceship.

A few minutes later, Amai returned with a tray. "Here we are. Two green teas, one strawberry cake, one serving of umeboshi, two konbu onigiri, and two onigiri stuffed with bonito flakes."

"We didn't order onigiri." Itachi pointed out.

"I'm aware of that, but I get the feeling this might be your first proper meal in the last day or so, so I prepared them anyway." She turned and looked at Kisame, "I'm afraid the bonito flakes in yours are as close to the sea as you are going to get here."

Kisame chuckled, "Well I appreciate the thought."

甘い

"So, she seems nice." Kisame commented after he and Itachi had left the village.

"She's a thoughtful person and a skilled waitress." Itachi agreed with a detached tone, trying to avoid where he felt this was going.

"That's not what I mean." Kisame continued, "She's pretty friendly. Not remotely unnerved by your presence."

"I suppose she's gotten used to me after serving me every day for a week."

"She wasn't afraid of me either, and most girls are at least a little skittish." Kisame pointed out.

"She's a naive girl. I doubt she has ever been outside of her village."

"You're pretty fond of her, aren't you? I don't think you've ever visited the same place so often."

"Don't be ridiculous. It was just the most convenient option on each occasion."

"Right. What was I thinking? As if you would ever be sweet on a girl who makes sweets."

Itachi suspected that Kisame was being sarcastic at this point, but he didn't spare him the satisfaction of an answer.

Okay, so first, I would like to point out that, at least right now, Amai is the only OC in this story. All of the other characters are canon. They appear in a novel called Naruto Jinraiden: The Day the Wolf Howled, which tells the story of Sasuke confirming what Obito told him about Itachi by visiting the village where Itachi got his medicine. I'm guessing it was never translated into English. As a result, Reishi, Kina, and Jiryuu may be a bit OOC since I don't know anything about their mannerisms. However, the existence of the novel serves as proof that we really don't know what when on with Itachi most of the time he was with Akatsuki. Since he spent a full week in Howling Wolf Village once or twice a year, he obviously had time to form a relationship.

At any rate, Amai's name means both "sweet" and "naive", hence the title and the way people refer to her. I chose the name as a reference to Itachi's fondness for sweet things. Sasuke also uses it to call Naruto "soft" in The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring, so it appears to also carry the meaning of being too kind for one's own good.

EDIT 03/30/19: I realized that Howling Wolf Village is actually very close to the sea, so I had to correct that.

Konbu Onigiri are rice balls stuffed with seaweed. According to Chibi Sasuke's Sharingan Legend, they are Itachi's favorite type of onigiri. Chibi Sasuke is, of course, completely non-canon, but it sticks to canon with regard to the characters' likes and dislikes.