Chapter 4:
Kouri squeezed her eyes closed. It's gonna eat me any second now. I'm really gonna die. Goodbye, my lover. Goodbye, my friend. You have been the one. You have been the one for me… she shook her head hard. How could I be singing at a time like this? I am so hopeless… she took a peak at the animal and almost fainted at its opened jaws which were rapidly approaching her. And I say, goodbye to you. Goodbye to everything I thought I knew… you were the one I—Stop singing! You're off key and you still have the gall to sing! Argh! Oh dear, I could feel it's hot breath on my face. I really am gonna die. Lord, I still haven't apologized to my momma…
She felt the animal stop midway and she quickly opened her eyes in surprise. What the—? There before her was the guy she saw upon waking up. He was holding his hand at a weird way. It would seem as if he's praying but his thumb, pointing finger and middle finger were the only one outstretched and the rest are clutching each other. She blinked and at the next second, he was before her and the beast was behind him, lying on it's own pool of blood. She visually cringed. Looking at the guy, she thought, if he had killed me earlier, my death wouldn't have been painful.
Itachi approached the girl and she quickly scooted away. Frowning, he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him.
"What—What are you doing?" Kouri asked nervously. Maybe he's gonna kill her. Goodbye, world…
He stared at the girl with narrowed eyes. "Once and for all, answer me. What is your name?"
"My name?" she blinked. "Kouri. Hime Kouri."
Itachi raised an eyebrow. "You told me earlier that you forgot your name. How come you're telling it to me now?"
"Things forgotten could still be remembered," she replied haughtily, "and will you please let go of my arm? You're hurting me."
The guy stared at her for a minute longer before letting go of her arm.
"Um… mister… mister… what was your name again?" she asked hesitantly, taking a small peek up at him. It galled her to have to look up to people. Maybe it was a result of being one of the tallest girls in class but it had affected her anyway. She hated to feel inferior and being shorter than the guy makes her feel inferior.
"Itachi," he grunted. "You're not from here are you?"
She shook her head. He didn't continue his interrogation and started to walk. After a moment, she uncertainly followed him, limping. When he continued walking without taking notice of her, she grew bolder and limped beside him.
Gathering her courage, she said with confidence she didn't feel, "I'm going with you. Do you mind?"
He grunted and she took that for a yes. She looked down and smiled. I wonder what caused the sudden change of heart. Whatever it is, I'm forever grateful to it. Looking up to him, she said, "You wouldn't regret dragging me along! I'm a good cook. I do quite well with the laundry and I even know how to prepare a campfire. I know everything there is in housekeeping and—"
"But nothing of battles," he said, effectively cutting her off.
"Battles are for barbarians," she dismissed.
He sighed. "Already, I'm regretting bringing you along."
A vein bulged but she held on to her temper. "You're supposed to be grateful," she gritted out.
"Grateful, yaself. You'll be a great nuisance and will get on my way in battle."
"I'm not. I will never be. And why do you keep talking about battles as if they're real?"
"Oh, but they're real."
Her thoughts drifted back to how he had saved her earlier. The swiftness of the animal's death galled her. Looking up at her companion, she asked, "You don't really mean huge battles with tanks and guns and such do you?"
Itachi looked at her weirdly. "I don't know what you mean."
"What I mean to say is that do you have—oh!"
In her rush to get to the point, she accidentally stepped on her injured ankle and fell to the ground. Immediately, Itachi's hand shot out and caught her. He raised an eyebrow at her.
She looked down. "I think I twisted my ankle earlier," she said lamely.
