7.

The idea of heart failure crossed Tomoko's mind more than once when she heard Itachi come home. She rubbed her temples and took in a deep breath. Right now, she was in the confinements of her room and, as long as she stayed there, Tomoko was untouchable. During the time she had spent with Itachi, he hadn't tried to break in. Tomoko knew, for she put tiny slips of paper between the door before heading off to work. Unless Itachi was so vigilant to notice it and put it back once he had spied on Tomoko enough.

Tomoko didn't know whether to laugh hysterically or cry her eyes out at the thought of the numerous outcomes of her confession. It was now or never, before Itachi gets absorbed in his work. If he left, she'd be all alone again.

She left her room and found Itachi on the floor, comfortably leaning on his side.

"Evening, how was your day?" he asked casually.

Tomoko sat down as far away as possible from him, "I've got something to tell you, and you're not going to like it…or perchance you won't give a rat's ass, which I'm hoping for."

He sat up with a tinge of curiosity on his face, "Who's the father?"

Tomoko snorted and rolled her eyes, "That's cliché…and very two thousand and late."

"What can I do? I'm a man of the good old times," he shrugged. The sarcastic jokes only made her feel more dreadful. Tomoko had never lied about anything to Itachi, she only concealed or avoided talking about sensitive topics, but she never made anything up. That would be an insult to the memory of her family. He seemed to take notice of her mood, for Itachi shut up and waited, subconsciously mimicking Kakashi.

"My name wasn't always Suzuki Tomoko."

"I know, it's Renko."

This was the second time Tomoko thought that she might actually die. The first time happened when she went to the lake with her family and fell in. Renko was only four at that time at it was her mother who pulled her out from the water. Tomoko's father had always been a good musician, but a complete slug when it came to sports. Her mother on the other hand, ran marathons for fun and was an accomplished swimmer. That's why it took her less than a few seconds to dive in right after Renko and get her out of the water before any damage was done.

She got up hastily, "How the hell do you know that?" she whispered. Itachi sensed her anger, fear and confusion and headed to the kitchen and got out two glasses and a half-empty bottle of gin.

"Don't fucking ignore me!" she shouted, instantly regretting her outburst. Itachi turned around with a comforting smile, "We both have a fair share of explaining to do, might as well drink to make this confession hour more honest."

In fact it was Itachi who should've been angry, but his serenity was suspicious. How long ago did he figure it out? Reluctantly, Tomoko sat down while Itachi procrastinated revealing the truth. To her eyes, Itachi moved his body like a snail.

When he set the two drinks on the table, Tomoko didn't move an inch nor thank him. Her eyes remained glued onto Itachi, who was formulating his thoughts, arranging them in a chronological order.

"Do you wish to start or should I?" he asked smoothly, with a sly smirk. Tomoko crossed her arms across her chest and leaned back against the wall.

"What gave me away? Did you go to my room?" she demanded coldly. Tomoko felt surprised by her own sudden harshness towards Itachi who, in his twisted ways, had been wonderful to her. He seemed unfazed by her manner of speech before sighing.

"Well…of course I didn't suspect anything when I saw you, but it was Kakashi that, metaphorically, gave you away. Don't worry," he said calmly, "he didn't betray your trust. It was the scar that he has on his eye. I remembered seeing it somewhere, just a distant memory, but my curiosity demanded me to look it up and I found one of the videos from the time your family was killed. I found the one I remembered, a press conference about the killing of the Onigumi family, minus one of course," he indicated towards Tomoko.

Itachi paused for a moment to sip the cocktail before continuing, "Your age was right, and your reluctance towards speaking about your past or family. I was about seventy percent sure that I'm right, but asking you upfront would've been wrong. And then you got the letter earlier today, I'm sorry for reading it, but I had to know if my hypothesis was correct."

He knew very well that he was behaving unethically and selfishly, but the burning desire to write triumphed over any other whim of passion. The humane part of him was worried about Tomoko's safety, but the author was forming a blazing story of a young man who uncovers a woman's hidden past and helps her defeat the killer. Perhaps in a Victorian setting to make it more dramatic, and a mad scientist to top it all off. The killer would be as cunning as Jack the Ripper and skilful in disguise and craft, a difficult man to catch indeed.

But would there be justice in the end?

That depended on the outcome of this case. The setting was set, with him and Tomoko as the lead, Kakashi was Tomoko's faithful friend, perhaps even a romantic interest, and Itachi already knew who the mad scientist would be. A wonderful hacker from the west, a half-blood who returned to Japan just a year before, but he couldn't be carried away like this. Before writing an autobiography of them, he had to avoid Tomoko from walking right out.

He was tense, ready to leap if Tomoko decided to haul the untouched glass in front of her to his head. She didn't do it though, instead Tomoko raised her slender hands and began to clap. There was no joy, but it was a slow, sarcastic clapping, accompanied by a strange smile.

"Uchiha Itachi, you truly are a genius. Just from that scar you managed to dig up my entire history…You'd make an excellent character in a book, kind of like Sherlock Holmes."

A sceptical look from the man with a gorgeously curved eyebrow, "You're not suggesting for me to become a detective like many unsuccessful before you?" The drink that he had been sipping scarcely throughout their conversation was gone. He hadn't eaten for an entire day, the fact surfaced when he felt the familiar listlessness in his limbs.

Finally Tomoko reached the conclusion that her drink wasn't spiked and she drank nearly all of it in one go, "You know very well how much I love your book, I'd stop you if you ever tried to quit writing."

He seemed confused, the emotions didn't add up. Tomoko's reaction was none of the seven different options Itachi imagined. It seemed like a risky move to diver her attention, but curiosity outweighed fear.

"Why aren't you angry, or crying or a mixture of the two? I read the letter, something I'd perceive as a form of betrayal combined with the contents of that letter."

Tomoko laughed and drank the rest of the gin before getting up and sitting next to Itachi. Their shoulders just barely touched, and he was surprised to discover he didn't mind.

"Why I'm not afraid? Because I've known for years that he will come for me one day…and when he does I will be ready. Back when I was sixteen he promised me to come back when I'm ready…"

"So you're just going to die?" he asked, skilfully masking his disbelief.

Tomoko laughed, "Oh no, why the first time he managed to strike us was because it was unexpected. Now that he has slither out from his hole, I'm ready and the police is as well. This will be our last chance to catch him and let him rot in jail."

She let her head fall on his shoulder. Tomoko, like Itachi, hadn't eaten for quite a while. It seemed irrelevant compared to the easy feeling they shared. The dark obscure glass was finally smashed and they could look at each other clearly for the first time. Itachi was the first outsider who knew the whole story, excluding Kakashi and Rin who were both working on the case. Tomoko knew that Itachi didn't leave for two reasons – lack of money and his instincts as a writer.

And Tomoko didn't mind. Her misfortune in life was devastating, but if some good could come from this, then she was willing to provide it.

"Are you planning to kill him?" he asked. There was no judgement hidden in his voice or in his mind. Itachi felt that if she did exact revenge, it wouldn't solve anything, but it would be justified from his point of view.

Tomoko sighed, her breath brushing against Itachi's skin.

"No, let him rot in jail until he dies at the ripe age of ninety six. Japan's jails are, after all, famous for being quite tough."

"I like that plan of yours. Ninety six…that's a nice age. I hope he isn't killed by the police during pursuit or something…Perhaps we can find him before the police does."

"How?" she asked anxiously. The thought of confronting Sasori before Kakashi, before anyone was tempting.

"I know a guy who might have some connections…it will take some money to bribe him though…but I have an idea."

"How would you do that? Itachi, if that's something dangerous I don't want you to endanger yourself…This case has never touched you personally before I happened…don't get mixed up."

He gently pet her head with a smirk, "Don't worry, he's harmless to me. I plan to bribe him with a book I haven't yet written…"

For a second, Itachi regretted ever mentioning the book. It could lead to uncomfortable questions and Itachi wasn't sure if Tomoko was ready to handle the answers yet. Their illusion of stability was easy to shatter. It would take just take two words to destroy it. 'About what?'

"It's going to be brilliant, and this time the uneducated masses will appreciate what you wrote."

A breath of relief. The chances that she would forget the subject, despite the alcohol, were thin, but Itachi was grateful that Tomoko didn't try to trip their conversation. Perhaps she sensed Itachi's silent plead as well, not to bother him about his latest work.

"You still didn't answer my other question," why did he steer the conversation towards himself again? Common sense told him to shut up and allow Tomoko to speak her mind, because the odds of the topic of her past surfacing again was small, but that damned innate curiosity of his…And the alcohol. Why did he use so much gin for those cocktails. Tomoko's arm felt like hot burning coals against his sleeve…she felt so vulnerable.

She giggled, "Why I didn't get angry at you? Perhaps because I don't want to…"

"You don't want to?"

"At first, when you told me, I was furious…but that anger felt misdirected. You've never hurt me, you just read the letter…Reminds me that I should text Kakashi, otherwise he will mistake your prints for the killers'…"

Tomoko reached for her phone, but she was stopped by Itachi who seized her hand and took the phone from her, "It can wait for now…I don't want you to focus on other men right now."

She allowed Itachi to do so without any resistance. It was the first time she had touched him properly, except for inevitable, occasional bumps. As if to test the waters, Tomoko moved a bit closer to Itachi. He felt her breath against his upper lip, the scent of gin and tonic still lingered there. It took him a while to notice that he was still grasping Tomoko's wrists.

Itachi released them, and in the height of toxic elation kissed her. It was a shy kiss with reluctance from both parts – is this okay, are they okay with this?

Tomoko tried not to think about it, she wrung her wrists free from his grasp to wrap them around his neck and run her fingers through Itachi's hair. It was much softer than she imagined, he tasted sweeter than she imagined. Her feelings were transcendent, they felt eternal.

How long were they kissing? Was it minutes or hours? Itachi didn't know and didn't care, every ounce of common sense was quieted by the alcohol that seemed to control his body.

It was Tomoko who pulled away to gasp for air.

"I'm…" she mumbled, getting up, "Good night," she said hastily and returned to her room, leaving Itachi with a feeling of emptiness. After seeing her leave his mind went blank and the dim room faded away.