~~**~~Now, I spotted a fatal flaw with this story and the farther I went along editing it the more I realized I couldn't change it or would have to change the whole story. For some reason, though Hotaru should recognize Itachi right off the bat without his hat on, she doesn't. If she does, she never speaks of it. In a few pieces she speaks to Itachi and of Itachi like she knows exactly who she is, so I suppose she DOES know who he is, is just choosing to ignore it. Just over look it^^; Sorry for the inconvenience, everyone.~~**~~
"Moving On"
"I'm not an anbu." She spoke the words through gritted teeth, keeping her arm extended and pressed over Usagi's stomach, half her body in front of the taller girl's.
"People don't get those tattoos for decorations. It is against country law." The little red headed boy spoke up in a calm voice of his own, stepping in front of the blonde. Hotaru glanced from him back to Itachi, knowing he was the one who would most likely give the attack command.
"I took the exam, passed, got my tattoo, and left. Things came up to keep me from becoming one." She gripped down on the kunai in her free hand at her side.
"What? Spreadin' your legs just too much fun to resist?" Hidan snorted, but Kakuzu hit him upside the back of his head again. Hotaru snarled at him.
"THINGS came up. All you need to know is that I'm NOT in the anbu." She looked back at Itachi and the tall blue man behind him. The tallest man of the group, he seemed like the strongest too, but the look on his face right now was anything, but strong. He was looking at Usagi with a slightly pained look, as though he was torn on what to do. Hotaru even thought she saw something like betrayal lurking beneath his eyes.
"Usagi's never been trained in anything. She's just a normal girl." Hotaru assured the tall man, and everyone else, noticing their eyes straying to Usagi every now and then. Itachi had been silent the entire time. Finally, after a long moment of tension, he turned.
"Dinner will be ready by seven still. No one is to lay a hand on the girls without their express permission." The blue man stepped to the side and followed Itachi back into their room. The others went along their way also, one by one or two by two. Finally the girls were alone in the hallway and Hotaru let herself relax. She let Usagi up off the wall and turned to look at her, pulling her kimono up over her shoulders again, trying to keep it at least partially closed like she normally did.
They started towards the kitchen quietly together, holding hands and looking at the floor, then Usagi stopped and turned to face her. Hotaru looked up at her and squeezed her hand comfortingly. "We'll be fine." She promised, but Usagi slowly shook her head, letting out another long sigh.
"What do we tell the boys when, and if, they stop by?" With that she started into her safe zone; the kitchen. Hotaru watched her go, nipping at her lower lip as she thought about it, because she hadn't before. Most of their friends were anbus...or shinobies. This was going to be difficult to hide.
But, why hide these men? Why not rat the group out? Let the boys protect them and help them? The men had shown her no reason to hide them...But, yet again, that black haired man and blue skinned man had sort've protected them. She ran a hand over her face and walked into her bedroom to fix her kimono into some state resembling normal before finishing her tea rounds.
It was difficult to summon up the courage to go into the next room, and the strength to be as polite as she had been trying to be before. But, she lit the lantern and knelt in front of the door on the left side of the hallway, taking another cleansing deep breath. Three of them had set up camp on the left side of the hallway, only the blonde and the masked man were on the right side. But, thankfully, they were all in the opposite hallway to hers and Usagi's rooms. She closed her eyes and knocked, wondering what tiny hell was waiting for her on the other side of this door and who she would open it to face.
"Excuse me, I brought you some tea." She waited patiently for an answer. This time she got more of an answer from Tobi's room across the hall than from the room she knocked on.
"Yay! More tea! Tobi loves tea!"
"She's not talking to you, baka! You still HAVE your tea. Get back over here!"
"Excuse me, I'm coming in..." Hotaru smiled to herself as she slid the door open and bowed her head, then got up and walked inside, kneeling to shut the door behind herself again. When she turned around and looked she saw she was in the room of the blue fishy man and the commanding black haired boy. She hoped they wouldn't have much to say to her. She forced a smile and walked to the table, where both of them were sitting across from each other, apparently having been talking. She avoided looking at either of them.
"Look, Itachi, she brought your favorite snack." The big man pointed a large blue finger at the dango she sat out on the table. His voice rumbled it was so deep. Hotaru got a strange feeling she had met Itachi in a past life time, and she knew she knew that name from some where; but it escaped her whenever she tried to think of it. The black haired boy said nothing, rather sat silently. "She's such a cute little girl, she'd make a good house wife some day." Kisame laughed, Hotaru was pretty sure she could feel his laughter vibrating through her. And she figured he was only saying that to get on her good side so he could get closer to Usagi; like she would let that happen at all.
She faked a blush though and set his cup in front of him, "My Onee-san would be a better one. But, I thank you for the compliment, sir." She turned and set the other cup in front of the other, stoic boy. This boy disturbed her, honestly. The blue one chuckled at her remark.
"Well then, what's your onee-san's name?" He wondered and she bit back on a bitter remark this time. She closed her eyes, then glanced up at him and smiled.
"Her name is Usagi, Sir." She offered and backed away from the table. She bowed once more, "Please tell me if there's anything else I can do for you, gentlemen. Do not hesitate to call." With that she got up, knelt, opened the door, walked through, knelt, and shut it again, then ran down the hall to the kitchen.
