A/N: Well, here's the next chapter! It's, like, almost midnight here, so yeah... n.n;
"Hey, Uchiha!" called Neji. "What's the news?"
"What do you mean?" asked Itachi, taking off his reading glasses as he looked up from his latest critique.
"That newspaper you were given the other day," Neji said, "Did you read it?"
Itachi answered, "Kakashi only pointed out the ratings, so that's all I read."
Neji said, "Well, there's an impressive poem from some person that I think you should read."
"Why does this concern me?"
"I think there's actually a poem out in the world that even you can't critique," Neji said with a chuckle and walked off.
Itachi rolled his eyes in disbelief and looked through the newspaper which he'd failed to throw out for the poems.
One of them talked about dreams, another one talked about love. Then, there was one called "Jaded".
With a quirk of his brow, he started to read it.
He looks at me, with that smirk,
He knows I'm jaded, and that, he says, is my stupid quirk.
I let him kiss me, but he'll never touch me,
For I know that it'll be only a chance for him to hurt me.
And then the day,when he knows I'm happy,
He goes in for the kill,and tries to slap me.
I catch his hand,which makes him angry,
He kicks me down, and there he holds me.
I fight back, and try to hit him,
But he stops me, his patience wearing thin.
I say I hate him, spit in his face,
He tells me a woman, should know her place.
I am gone now, he knows he's hated,
But now he knows, why I was jaded.
He had to admit that he was impressed. This was one of the best he'd seen and, for once in his life, he was speechless.
He looked up at the name of the person who wrote this to find only the name, "Haruno S".
"Haruno S," he read aloud.
He didn't know but, but he knew he needed to find this Haruno S. He didn't know when, but he was going to meet her. He was going to meet the first poet who had ever rendered him speechless.
"You sound very insane right now, Dude," Shikamaru told Itachi as he took a drag of his cigarette. "This poem's got you wrapped around its nonexistent little finger."
"I-I'm just impressed," Itachi replied defensively. "You make it sound like I'm obsessed with it."
"Tell me, how many hours of sleep did you get last night?"
"Three," answered the Uchiha, suddenly remembering how tired he was.
"How many hours do you usually get?"
"Like, six," he answered again, trying to remember how many hours he slept a night.
"And why did you lose three hours of sleep?"
"I stayed up looking up the name, 'Haruno'," he answered with a sigh. "But I'm not obsessed."
"Are you sure?" asked Shikamaru, butting out his cigarette in the ash tray. "You certainly seem to be infatuated with it."
"Well, I'm not," Itachi corrected.
Shikamaru put his hands up as if to say, "Don't kill me!" He really said, "Hey, I'm playing the Devil's Advocate here; you wanted my advice and I'm giving it."
"Well, what is your advice?"
"Take a couple days from work, get yourself a good girl and do her nonstop until you can convince yourself you're not in love with a poem."
"Very funny," commented Itachi dryly. "I don't go out with girls often."
"Girlfriend, boyfriend, whichever you prefer."
"I'm not gay," Itachi ground out through clenched teeth.
"Could've fooled me."
Itachi stood and said, "Thanks for the 'great' advice, I'll definitely consider it. Goodbye."
"Later, Poem-Lover," Shikamaru replied with a curt wave of his hand.
Itachi silently growled and slammed the door to Shikamaru's house shut on his way to his car.
Some counselor he'd make, he thought as he drove down the highway, steaming over his discussion with Shikamaru. He doesn't know shit.
He headed back to his house to find yet another message on his answering machine.
"Not now, Mom," he mumbled, falling onto the couch and draping an arm over his eyes.
Soon enough, he was asleep.
A/N: Tee hee, Itachi's in love with a poem!
