Chapter 9

"So, where are we going, un?" I asked as Itachi drove us through town. Itachi just smirked.

"I've never noticed that you have an odd speech quirk." He chose to comment on instead. I did notice that he changed the topic and wouldn't let him get away with it, however I decided to satisfy he curiosity first.

"It's something I developed when I was very young, yeah. I don't know why, but it just stuck, un. But you wouldn't have noticed it before now because when I was working for you I suppressed it, yeah." I told him truthfully.

"Why?" He asked, just like any curious child would have.

"Why do you think, un?" I replied, darkly. My speech quirk was unprofessional, that and Fugaku and Sasori were quick to beat it out of me. Itachi's face darkened slightly as well. "And don't think your getting away from my question, yeah! I want to know where you are taking me, un." I demanded.

"To get some food. I told you that before." He replied smoothly and vaguely. I turned away from him and 'sulked'. "You'll find out when we arrive." I stayed exactly where I was, refusing to turn back to him until he told me where he was taking me. It was silent for a few minutes before I felt a creeping hand run across my thigh very close to my nether regions. I then started to support a semi-hard on. I shifted slightly in my seat to try and get the hand closer to where my body needed it right now. Itachi had been expecting this and moved his hand away from me completely, putting it back on the steering wheel. I turned back to him, glaring at him. "Think of this like our first date and maybe you won't be so fussy."

My eyes widened. "This... is... a date?" Itachi nodded in reply. "Thank you." I said knowing exactly what he was doing. We didn't know how things with us would turn out, so he was giving me this one thing, in case we would never be able to do it again.

"We are here now." He said as he stopped the car and climbed out. I followed his actions and waited for him to lead the way. He walked over and took my hand in his, interlacing our fingers, and started leading me towards the markets. My face heated slightly from his forward actions.

We walked slowly through the market streets stopping and looking at a few things occasionally. Eventually we made our way over to the street food section. Once we had bought our food we found a vacant picnic bench and sat down opposite each other. We started eating in silence, neither of us actually knowing what to do now that we were on our date.

Itachi broke the silence. "I have some questions." He stated. I looked up at him and motioned for him to continue. He stayed silent for a few more minutes, probably mulling over which question to answer first. "What's your favourite colour?" He asked, obviously starting with some easy questions.

"I wouldn't say I had an exact favourite colour, but I do prefer bright and bold colours, yeah." I said after a moments thought.

"Favourite and least favourite food? And why?" he asked next, before taking another bite of his food.

"My favourite food would be sweetcorn, because it's a bright, happy yellow, brining up the appearance of food instantly and it has a nice sweet flavour to it, yeah. My least favourite food would be cabbage because its bitter and wet when it shouldn't be, un." I explained in depth.

Itachi frowned slightly before moving on. "Date of birth?" I guessed he meant my birthday rather than the actual date of birth, he already knew my age.

"May 5th." I answered easily, I took another bite of my lunch and waited for the next question.

"You like art, tell me what got you started and what you like about it." I put my fork down, knowing that I wasn't going to be eating anything for the next few minutes.

"Art is a bang, un. It's beauty is in the small fleeting moments of life, yeah. Nothing stays the same from one moment to the next, it's always growing and changing, or it's there for one second and gone the next. It's these things in life that we need to appreciate, yeah. My grandfather taught me that before he passed away. He's the one who inspired me to start making my art, un. I was always forced to take the conventional routes in art so I can draw and paint and stuff, but my heart's always been in explosions. That's why I love using clay and sculpting, un. Clay is the easiest thing to use for the explosions, but a lot of people don't really like them so I stick to sculpting the clay, un. I don't normally bake it, so I can always make modifications if I want to, that way it's always changing, yeah. I also love chalk street art, yeah. You can just draw on the pavement or a wall, it's admired and then it washes away with the next rain, giving you a fresh canvas to draw on, un." I used large arm gestures as I talked and was happy to see that someone was interested in knowing about my art.

"I'd like to see some of your special art sometime. It sounds fun." I beamed at him when he said this, knowing that he meant this and not just saying it for politeness. "What was your childhood like?" He then asked me once I had picked up my fork up again to eat more food before it went cold.

I smiled sadly at my food before replying. "I had a happy childhood, yeah. It was fun and full of laughter. I was really close to my sister, un. I was a bit of a rebel with my parent and so we did have a few disagreements, but we were a relatively happy family, yeah. I had a few friends at school, but not many, un."

"I would find that hard to believe." Itachi interrupted, pulling me back from my reminiscent thoughts.

"It was hard to keep many friends when you're an art student, who's a closet gay. I could never really truly be my self around anyone and so I put on this tough guy persona and hung around with people my parents didn't like, who caused a lot of trouble and the likes, un. So yes while they were the people I grew up with, we were never really true friends and so dumped me when I finally got sick of it all and just decided to be the real me." I stopped thinking then, going back to hard times.

"So what happened?" Itachi prompted me.

"When I started telling people I was gay you mean, un?" He nodded, confirming. "Well I had recently turned 17 and just couldn't handle keeping it in any more, un. My parents were pushing me to find a nice girlfriend and my 'friends' were pressuring me to join in with their sex orgies they liked to call 'parties', un. I would join in with the drinking and drugs and other things that would go on, but never would I have fun with a girl. One night they were taunting and teasing me and one of them said 'If you don't, we'll just assume you're gay and find you a nice boy for next time.' The room went silent, and I replied, 'Actually I am, un.' They then started to call me names and threw me out. The next day at school no-one would talk to me and yet everyone was whispering about me, un. When I got home that evening, I had decided to tell my parent, thinking that at least they would be accepting and understanding about it, un. The very moment I told them, they told me to pack my bags, leave and never come back again. So that's what I did, un. I slummed it on the streets for a while, using my art skills to try and earn me money for my next meal, yeah. But then the colder months came, money became sparse as all the tourists left, I was doing all I could to survive, yeah. That's when I found an advert to work in the Uchiha household, where a room and meals would be provided with a small payment. And I guess you know the rest." Itach nodded.

We were both silently eating. I was allowing Itachi to digest the information I had given him. No one I knew, knew all of that information about me, yeah some of the guys knew bits and pieces, but they would never push me for information. They all had stories of their own and understood the boundaries. But when Itachi asked me about I felt like I had to tell him, because I needed someone who knew that, to take some of the burden of my past away from me. That person would only ever be Itachi, because I loved him too much to keep anything hidden from him.

"Do you not have any questions for me?" He asked breaking, the silence as we finished our meals. I smiled at that.

"No, I already know most things about you. I thought that I would learn other stuff about you gradually." I replied. He gave me this look that said 'please elaborate'. "Your favourite colour is maroon, because it's a nice neutral-ish colour that is in the middle of your two real favourite colours, red and purple, un. Your favourite food is kelp rice balls, but not just any, the ones your mother make are the best because they remind you of happier times, yeah. You also love cabbage because it's distinctly different from other flavours and can be put in almost any dish, un. You hate stake, because it's a piece of flavourless and bloody meat, for no reason at all, yeah. Your birthday is on the 9th June, and your parents always throw you a big and elaborate party, which you always hate, un. You enjoy visiting traditional Japanese cafés, where you always get a cup of green tea and a plate of either rice balls or dango, unless the café has it's own specialist dish, yeah. You have been friends with Kisame for most of your life and have recently developed a friendship with Pein and Konan, but you all form a tight night group, un. Your childhood was a fairly enjoyable upbringing, if a little hard with all the pressure and expectations from your father. You would love spending time with Sasuke and still would, if he would let you. And you secretly like painting your nails, yeah. Did I miss anything there, un?" Itachi just sat there stunned that I actually knew all of that. "I was your servant for like two years, yeah." I said as though that was explanation enough.

"Most of my servant don't know that much information about me." He replied, implying that it was as though I was some sort of creepy stalker.

"Either they were really crappy servants or you never talked to them this much before." He still looked at me like it was more than I should have known. "All right, all right, I'll admit I know some of that because I had a crush on you, but really when you spend most of your time serving a persons needs, you tend to know their likes and dislikes and other things like that." I said turning bright red at my admissions.

Itachi then composed himself and smirked. "Hn." He then stood up and disposed of our empty food containers. He stood next to me and placed his hands on my face, trapping me as he kissed me deeply. I closed my eyes and responded to the kiss, even if I was embarrassed that he was kissing me in public. Itachi then pulled away and saw my red face and smirked again. "Hn." I was becoming to dislike the Uchiha grunt right now. He then took my hand in his again and dragged me towards the market stalls again.

He took me towards a stall we had been looking at earlier. It was a small table filled with cord necklaces. "Would you like one? I saw you looking at them before." I nodded shyly before becoming a bit bolder.

"Alright, You pick one you think I would like using your new found information on me." I smirked slighty. "I'll do the same for you." I added on to give it a competition like feel. He would jump at that.

He smirked. "Hn, your on." We both then turned to study the spread of necklaces on the table before us.

I quickly scanned the table and ruled out most of them. I turned towards the silver chains at the back, all on stands. I started to examine these more closely. "That one." I said pointing to the necklace two in from the right. It was a simple chain with three metal ovals breaking up the simple line.

"How did you pick that out so quickly?" He asked. Good he liked it.

"When you know someone well enough, you can normally spot the things that they like as easily as looking for something you like yourself." I replied easily.

"Hn." Itachi then went back to looking for me. I then motioned to the store seller and bought it with what little money Ino had lent me. "You didn't have to buy it for me. I could quite as easily have acquired it myself."

"But then it doesn't really count as a gift, un." Itachi looked up at me a second time. I then took that moment to put the necklace on him.

"Thank you." He then picked up a necklace with a stubby, clear crystal prism, there was a long cylindrical bead on either side, from which multiple thin cords came out, which would then wrap around the wearers neck. I could see why he had chosen it. The light refracting off the crystal always looked different, there was a small intricate design on each bead and the multiple cords would move with the wearer. It was exactly the type of thing I would have picked out.

"You're good Uchiha, un." Was all I told him. He then proceeded to buy the necklace and put it on me like I had done for him. This time I grabbed his hand and pulled him away. "Now I've spent all my money you're going to pay for this." I didn't elaborate what I wanted, he would find our soon enough. I dragged him towards a small tent I had frequented for some temp work. I had helped drawn out the designs for the artists so that they could prepare the ink quicker for the customers on busy days.

"A tattoo parlour?" He questioned as we walked inside.

"Yup, un." I replied "I just thought we could do with something a little more permanent, yeah."

"I thought you were more into fleeting art rather than permanent art." He replied, questioning my judgement.

"Tattoos are different, yeah. They mark a change or a decision, un. And it's art on an ever changing body, un." I explained.

"Is that Deidara I hear?" A voice boomed from the back. A man appeared from behind a curtain.

"Sure is Kaede, un." I smiled. "Could I have some paper? There are a couple of designs I wanna draw."

"Sure thing, help your self, you know where the equipment is kept. I'll just finish up with this customer and then I'll be right out to help you." He then disappeared back behind the curtain.

I stepped behind the counter and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil, and started drawing the two designs in my head. Once I had finished the drawing and was happy with them, Kaede stepped back through with his customer, telling him how to take care of his new tattoo. He then came over and studied the two animals I had drawn. "I'm having the weasel, right shoulder. Itachi will have the bird, right shoulder."

"Do I get any choice in this matter?" Itachi asked before the process could go any further. I just turned to him and pouted. It was a good pout that I had used on my sister and Sasori many a time to get my way. I made my eyes wide and bit the side of my bottom lip. "Alright fine, let me see it first." He gave in. I knew he didn't doubt my abilities but probably wanted to see what he was getting first. Kaede handed him the sheet with the drawings on. Itachi gave a slight look of awe before nodding and handing the sheet back.

The drawings were then transferred to some tracing paper. We moved through to the other room, where Itachi removed his shirt and had the outline transferred to his arm. "That what you want Deidara?" I walked over and inspected. I nodded and let him carry on. He checked that Itachi was all right with it first before he started to ink it in. Itachi was unsurprisingly quite throughout the process.

Once it was done Kaede spread Vaseline over it and wrapped it in cling film. We then swapped places and repeated the process except on me this time. I put my shirt back on while Itachi paid for the tattoos. Kaede quickly explained how to take care of them and we then bid ourselves goodbye. We then decided to go home after that.

In the car Itachi decided to quiz me again. "How did you get the scars on your hands and chest?" He had obviously been burning to ask that question for a long time.

I chuckled before I answered. "It was an experiment gone wrong, un. I've had a few and scars which now litter my body, most of them will fade with time, yeah. Those three probably won't. I was 15 and I got the explosive:clay ratio wrong and accidentally blew up the lawnmower in the garden, yeah. One of the blade flew at me, I put my hands out in front to protect me the sharp edge cut across both hands before the end lodged in my chest, un. My parent came out to see what had happened and took me straight to hospital, un. Had to have 15 stitches in each hand and 25 on my chest, as well as staying in hospital for a couple of weeks, un." I smiled and looked back to him. "I survived to tell the tale and to be blown up many more times, the world won't be rid of me so easily, un."

Itachi took a few seconds to process the story before his lips turned up in the normal Uchiha smirk. The rest of the ride was taken up by sharing embarrassing childhood stories. I seemed to have many more than the Uchiha did.

When we reached the Nara residence, Itachi got out of the car and walked me to the door. "I should probably head back to mine. My Mother will be missing me." I nodded and waited for him to leave, but he didn't.

"Thanks for the date today. I really enjoyed myself. I guess I'll see you around sometime then. You know where to find me if you need me." I started to turn, but suddenly found myself pinned to the door.

"I will definitely see you again, for I will definitely be needing you again." He whispered into my ear before firmly planting his lips on mine. I responded gladly. He deepened the kiss and pressed his body firmly against mine. I could feel a hard on coming, I knew that I was going to need a cold shower tonight, but I didn't care.

Suddenly I felt the wall behind me disappear and fell backwards, taking Itachi with me. We broke apart when I hit the floor. "I thought I heard something hit the door." Shikamaru's father said before disappearing down the hallway. Itachi gave me one last tender kiss before he pulled himself off the ground and muttered a quick goodbye. I waited until the car had disappeared before I stood up and walked inside.