Chapter 10
After the run in with Naruto and his groupies, Hikaru fixed his little attitude problem. He never did tell me what he was all hung up on. Frankly, I couldn't have cared less. Everyone has their days. Even eight year-old boys.
The next morning I drug myself out of bed, trying to stop myself from having one of 'those' days myself. With a quick shower and I was down the stairs. Hikaru flung out of Aki's room after me. I guess he had been waiting for me to wake up before he headed down too. On my way through the house I nearly passed by my apron without notice. I had been trying to make a specific point to turn putting my apron on, into it's own little habit.
Like clockwork Aki appeared with a tray of fresh out of the oven cupcakes. His soft scowl was hardened and vigorously focused on trying to find something. "Aki?" I was almost afraid to make myself known. Looking half-dazed Aki looked at me. "Looking for something?"
He bustled his hands through the air. "My oven mitts! Where did I put them?"
Hikaru muffled his giggles, for obvious reasons I assure you. See, flying through the air with Aki's angry hands were the mitts in question. I walked over to Aki, barely catching him on his little rampage. "Aki!" I snapped as kindly as possible.
"What?" He snapped right back. I jiggled his hand until he looked. His scowl disappeared with contact. "Oh." He breathed. Hanging from his eyes were heavy bags. They really didn't suit him. Some people can pull them off somehow or another, but not this man, he did better with a good night's sleep.
Behind the sinister baker was a assortment of new treats and finely decorated cakes. Not something that can be prepared in a short morning's time. I scooped my finger through a bowl of blue icing. "What time did you go to bed anyways?" I scraped the splotch of frosting into my mouth.
Not even really paying mind to me, Aki went back to his doings. "I didn't." Aki may be serious about his baking and such, but he always put himself over everything. Including his baking. So you can imagine my surprise when I heard that man saying such a thing.
"Why on Earth didn't you go to bed?"
Aki quickly side glanced me. He threw in a cup of sugar into his mixture. "Do you really not know?"
I interlocked my own arms while my eyebrows squeezed together. "How should I know?"
A slight breach of action raced over Aki. Before I knew it he was globbing spoon-fulls of what ever he was making onto a cookie sheet. "Well if you are honestly that oblivious I suppose I'll tell you." He stopped only to sprinkle a red substance over the small lumps and then shoved them into his oven. While using his apron as a hand towel he swiftly turned to me. "Tonight is the town's annual spring festival, which means we will actually have a lot of customers."
Procrastinator.
"So that means you want me to run the register?" Aki stopped everything he was doing. My head slid back a notch. What had I said? Slowly, he turned his head so that he could show me his aghast expression properly.
"You?" His tone had a little laugh in it. "On the one night that I actually have a reputation to uphold?" Then he was back to work. "No, you can go do whatever there is to do. Just so long as you don't come around here with trouble, that is."
On instinct my lips made a pursed frown. That was definitely was an insult, no doubt about it. Knowing better, I let it go with a sigh. It wasn't such a bad idea actually. A night off on the town. "That would be pretty fun now that I think about it."
Hikaru started inhaling a large amount of air, like something had just dawned on him. "Do you think I could go to the festival with Ms Mizu and her family?" He clasped himself onto my leg. "Please?"
"It isn't really my decision. Mizu will be the who has to put up with you."
"Could we go ask her now?"
"Hikaru." I put my hands on my hips. "If we just got up, then they probably aren't up either." He didn't seem to understand though.
"Actually." Aki intervened on his own account. "You slept in for quite a while. A while being it is going on one in the afternoon."
Hikaru started pulling me towards the door. "C'mon, Taylor! We have to go see Ms Mizu!" I looked back at Aki for some sign that he would help me from going out into the world.
For an instant I thought he was actually going to speak up for me as he rooted through a drawer. "While you are out, Taylor." He tossed me a small bag of coins. "Go by a kimono for the festival tonight." I barely caught the heavy little bag as it flew towards me. My eyes widened as I looked back at Aki, but he already had his back towards me. There was no way out at that point.
For as small as Hikaru was, he sure had a bit of strength to him. He pulled me through all of the back paths and ally ways to make it to Mizu's house. I tried to memorize it for future references, so that I could escape going through the crowd of people I usually always do.
In the end it turned out that Mizu was more than willing to let Hikaru tag along with her and her family. And I was more than willing to let him enjoy himself with them until the festival while I went shopping. Which left me with no other choice than to go, what was pretty much, dress shopping.
The fact of the matter was that I really had no idea where to start. Kimono was like a robe. Robes are found in Bed, Bath and Beyond. And I don't think it's surprising when I say that I didn't even try to look for that. After what seemed like an hour of hunting down at least one kimono in a frustrated manner, I decided to take a break. Or in other words: I gave up.
I stood off to the side of the street I was on. With an actual look around I wondered what the hell I was actually doing where I was. Where I was to be exact was a street that was decked out with bulky men and weapons. In fact if you weren't a man that looked like he visited the gym every day, then he looked like a straight up psychopath. It made me slightly afraid to move, even though I knew I couldn't just stand there all day.
Taking a deep breath I pushed myself away from the fence I'd been leaning up against. I weaved behind a couple guys and tried to see was ahead. All I could see were a bunch of men. Then more men. Trying to be patient I just stayed with the steady pace of the people around me. At least I wasn't shoulder to shoulder with people. I bit my lip as I passed a fight between a store owner and an obviously dissatisfied customer. It made me feel even more uncomfortable then I already was. A snort sounded behind me. I ignored it until the person snorted again and tapped me on the shoulder.
I looked over my shoulder at yet another man. The movement in my legs instinctively picked up some speed. "Can I help you, sir?" He was a larger man with the junky tanned look to him. Someone who screamed Jersey-Shore-Fag.
A thumping hairy arm dropped around my shoulders. "Whatsa pretty little thing like you doin in a place like this?"
My eyes slightly narrowed. Little? Tell that to my BMI. "I'm just a little… off of direction." Covertly I made small attempts to get out of his grip. Except I slightly underestimated how heavy his limb really was.
Jersey Man's chest seemed to swell a tad bit. "How's about you lemme buy you a drink? Then we'll…" As his voice lowered in his ugly endeavor to be charming he pulled me closer. "Get you goin."
For a second I thought over what the possibilities were that they had some sort of Megan's Law where I was. Deciding that the law wasn't particularly on my side I ducked under and out of the man's grasp. "Sorry, but I'm a looking for someone." The first excuse that always pops into my head at moments like this.
He swung his big head around looking for where I had gone as I looked for routes to get away from him. Sadly, he spotted me before I had my chance. His bulky hand started reaching out for me again, causing me to make a sharp jerk backwards to make sure I was out of his reach. My back shoved into a large object. The large object, not to my amazement, was really a person.
Jersey Man's eyes squinted over my eyes before quickly flashing the whites of his eyes. "Taylor-chan?" A deep voice accompanied a hand that spun me around. A relieved smile escaped me as I laid my eyes on Kisame. He couldn't have had a better timing to just show up. Kisame with his killer stare glared over me at what I suspected was the dumbfounded Jersey Man. An almost creepy smile sparkled over his shark-like teeth. "This guy bothering you?"
I didn't have time to respond as Kisame's smile dropped. "There he goes." I twisted my head around to reassure myself that he really was gone. Which he was. Who wouldn't run if a man like Kisame looked as if he was going to dice you to pieces? A moron. That's who.
"Kisame." Itachi's voice drawled from behind the towering blue man. "What are you doing?"
"Oh." Kisame side stepped to reveal the small-in-comparison man. Kisame thwacked his large hand on my shoulder. "Taylor-chan here was having a small problem."
Itachi's eyebrow lifted ever slightly. "Problem?"
My face flushed. "It was nothing." I quickly interjected making them both to look at me abruptly. "Just a jerk."
"Well this place is full of his kind. Speaking of which- what are you doing here?"
A frown fell across my face. Yet another reason I should've stayed at the bakery. People just love out of the blue making me feel stupid. "I got a little lost."
They both stared at me for a moment before Kisame started bursting at the seems. "Got lost in your own territory, huh?" He began pounding his hand on me again, almost making me to loose my balance. Ever changing shades once again, my cheeks cranked up their color. "What on Earth were you looking for anyways?"
I enlaced my arms together as I muttered under my breath. "A kimono for the festival tonight." My hopes of Kisame keeping a straight face were quickly shattered.
Thankfully his laughing attack wasn't at the magnitude that the last one was. He shook his head. "You? In a kimono? You are one of the least girly girls I know. Of course I don't really know that many girls now a'days." He wiggled a finger towards his teeth. "I think it's the teeth, don't you?" Or the blue skin. Of course it could be the absolutely fear installing sword and dark cloak you like to wear.
"Kisame-kun, I'm plenty girly!" My hands gripped my hips defensively.
His eyebrows slunk together in an amused fashion. "Oh yeah? Then how come you never let your hair down?"
I went to retort a snappy come back but I stopped. What did letting my hair down ever have to do with anything? I mean I never thought about it but I guess I did always keep my hair up. But how did that relate to my femininity or lack there of? Before I could come up with anything good to say a man yelled a number.
"That's me." Kisame looked over at Itachi. "Go on ahead, I'll catch up with you later." He threw me a smile, "Bye Taylor-chan."
"Don't mind him." Itachi started walking off in some unknown direction. Afraid of trying to be picked up again I caught up with him quickly.
"Where are you going now?"
He didn't even side glance me for acknowledgement. "You said you want to find a kimono, right?"
"Yeah…" I still didn't get where he was heading. Was he trying to get rid of me?
"Unless I show you, I'm sure you'll be wandering around every which way." I bit my lip. He was right too. I had no idea where to go at this point, especially since I didn't even know how I got to where I was. Not sure what else to say, I just shut up and let Itachi lead me.
Just as expected from a Uchiha prodigy Itachi new exactly what he was doing. He found a small shop that pretty much specialized in kimonos. I fumbled around with browsing, because yet again- I had no idea what I was doing. "Taylor." Itachi said from a few feet behind me. Hesitantly I turned around.
He stood there with a kimono over each arm. "Here." Itachi switched them over to my own arms. "Try these on."
I looked at each one not sure if they would even fit. Too embarrassed to admit that I wasn't really a size 2 girl I just nodded and enclosed myself in one of the dressing rooms. The first garment was red the other green. Each had some kind of underlying floral design. "Don't forget to show me how they look." Itachi's voice made it's way through the curtain door.
Meanwhile I was pulling the red robe up over my shoulders. "No way in hell, Itachi!" The robe ended somewhere between my knee and my ankle. Its cherry red color made the fading color in my face emphasized in a way I wish it didn't.
I felt terribly awkward standing in front of the mirror with my head tilted to the side. "Fine." I clenched my hands nervously. "I'm coming out." Really I just didn't want to look in the mirror for much longer.
Pulling the curtain back I found Itachi standing surprisingly only a couple feet away. His eyes ran over me, not giving so much of an approving nod or even an insulting quirk of the eyebrow. Nothing. Surely he didn't intend to be so inconsiderate, but man did he ever pull off the jerk-ish feeling. "I'm putting on the next one." I had to bite back the anger in my tone.
Behind the curtain I made sure I pulled the garment off with utter caution. God forbid I had to buy that awful colored thing. Red, just like Twizzlers, is absolutely disgusting. Dreadfully I picked up the green kimono. It was more of a natural color than the last one, or maybe it was just darker. Not too sure.
"Do you need help with the bow?" Itachi again butted in.
"No." I snorted. "What are you saying I'm not good at tying my own bow?" I can't really say that I was being sarcastic. I really did want to know what kind of message he was trying to send.
Unfolding the kimono I slunk into it, wiggling and dancing around in it so that maybe it would lay just right. There just wasn't something right. My hands fiddled with the sizable ribbon trying to make a nice tight bow. Once more my head was starting to cock to one side.
Suddenly the curtain slid to one side. Itachi of course being the catalyst. I jumped forward trying to find something that needed covered. "Itachi!" His hands overpowered my own, "What are you doing?" My voice shrieked through four octaves of horror film screams.
A quick tightening feeling looped over my midsection. "You needed help." I watched myself in the mirror, slightly impressed. The way it was hugging my hips, the thick ribbon accentuating my curves. Even the green looked nice on me. My eyes wandered over to Itachi, who was stilling standing behind me also examining my new reflection. Still not saying anything.
He in spite of everything his hands on the bow, his fingers lightly touching my back. Small sensations ran right through my body, pulling my stomach in every which way.
"I think I'll get his one." I finally said. Itachi's seemed to have a small jolt. He, regretfully, pulled his hands away almost hesitantly.
"Yes, good choice." I glared him down through the use of the mirror. Emotionally challenged jerk. Couldn't he tell when a girl wanted a simple compliment! It's elementary my dear Watson!
Switching balance from one foot to another, I impatiently waited for him to leave the area so that I could just take it off and buy the dumb thing. "Can you leave already?"
I started flattening the fabric of the kimono, waiting for Itachi to leave. Actually, no. I was waiting for him to say something. To ask me why I was or even seemed upset. Like any normal guy should. Instead Itachi, being the polite and stoic man he is, just turns and walk out of the small dressing room.
Without Itachi standing behind me, I felt a little less proud of the girl in the mirror. She didn't have the same confidence like she did before. Of course that could have just been my overdrinking things once again.
There was only one woman at the cash register. And I was pretty sure she was the only person in the whole store. She completely pulled off the overly-peppy-to-be-alive cashier act. The kimono was put in a surprisingly small bag. Sliding my purchase across the counter, the woman gave me another one of her ear-to-ear smiles. "I'm sure you're boyfriend will love it." I could have just presumed that she was just eyeing Itachi by coincidence and was talking about some other person that could have filled that spot. But I didn't. All because of the way she was connecting her eyes from Itachi to me.
My hand was already on the bag's string handles as I looked from her to Itachi and back. I dragged the bag off. "He's not my boyfriend." Sensing the obvious bad vibes that I was trying to transmit, the cashier's smile dimmed a little.
The bag was slightly heavier than I thought it would be. It wasn't so bad, considering it matched the air between Itachi and I. How did it always get like that? Silent and more than slightly awkward. "So," I took a deep breath. "What have you got planned for tonight?" Out of obligation for asking the question I at least tried to make eye contact. Itachi just kept walking, not giving any sign of answering me any time soon. I watched him for awhile, deciding whether or not to ask again.
Eventually he came around. "I'm not sure."
I guess you could call this progress, I thought to myself. "Well," I stopped for a second- you can never be to cautious right? "There is the festival going on tonight."
Then- silence.
Hadn't he been fine before we went to the store? At least that's what I had deduced from his openness to dress shopping with me. So why was he being so rude? So why do you care? The voice that had been insistently bothering me caused my hands to start moving. They tapped their fingers one by one before moving onto folding and unfolding my shirt. Why was I so disturbed about Itachi being so- well being so himself?
Maybe it was because I knew he wasn't always like that. Itchy was never like that with me. Though, I didn't really expect to see that side of him considering I had convinced him I had never known him before.
"What's bothering you?"
I could feel the tips of my ears beginning to burn up. There really was no use in lying to him, even thought that is exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to lie to him. I wanted to not let him know that he was effecting me. What would be the use? You don't get to be a top ranking criminal by being so easily deceived. There was only one thing you can do in those type of situations.
"What is that?" I yelled. Funny, I could've sworn Itachi did something like flinch. I threw my finger in the direction of a near by stand. A woman stood with a box of puppies at her feet. I started pulling Itachi by the arm towards the puppies, hoping to successfully avoid his questions. In reality thought it was more like we were walking in sync rather than me pulling him along.
I sat on my knees by the box. The puppies were all sorts of colors and shapes. Plucking one out, it practically mauled me while trying to express it affection. "Itachi!" I giggled, I think it was to be cute. He was standing examining both the puppy and me.
"Don't be afraid," The woman chuckled to Itachi. "They really are harmless little fellows."
Almost in a skeptical manner, Itachi too knelt down beside me. He ran his hand over the puppies large he. "He is rather cute."
I was quick to agree. "Isn't he?" Without hesitation or thought I shoved the little guy into Itachi's arms. They were a perfect match together. On the side of a couple minutes Itachi just sat there as the puppy was sniffing and exploring every inch and crevice of him. I wasn't too sure though if Itachi was really enjoying himself. Itachi didn't glance at me the whole time that the puppy occupied his lap space.
Itachi's sharp eyes seemed to be becoming more doe-eyed the longer he fed his attention to the puppy. On their own account my body scooted closer to the Uchiha man and my hands grazed onto his arm. He didn't flinch or just ignore me. Fluidly he looked at me, his eyes returning back to normal and no emotion ruining his stoic expression. It was disappointing to say the least. I like to see people with their guard down. Something this man never did.
It isn't like you didn't have the chance before, right?
My breath hitched as Itachi put the puppy back in the box with his siblings. He stood up and stared down at me. "I think it's time we leave, isn't it?"
"Yeah." I breathed. "I probably need to go home soon."
Itachi was turning away from me when he stopped. Slowly he looked back to me. "What?" His voice was almost completely masked by the noise around us.
"I need to go home?" I repeated, not sure what he was hung up on.
Something changed about Itachi for a second.
Itachi P.O.V
"I probably need to go home soon." Her little hands swished around in the water, scaring away all the baby tadpoles unintentionally.
I looked at her, amused by her random words. "Taylor." Sometimes she said the most insensible things. I decided to play along with her anyways. "What are you talking about?"
A couple strands of unmanaged hair fell into her face, not that it phased her at all. "Mom and Daddy," She paused to check her hands for any new catches. Zilch. "Are probably worried."
"Taylor." She still hadn't accepted the fact that she was an orphan in the world. No family, no history. All she had was me and my family. "You can't go home."
"Don't worry, Itchy." Taylor started wiping her hands on her shorts, obviously not bothered by germs. She looked up at me with her big blue eyes and out stretched her hands to me for assistance. "I won't forget you." She had completely misunderstood me. My stomach sank, in what I suppose would be pity. She didn't have a clue about her situation. I grabbed her hands with mine pulling her to her feet.
"Taylor-chan! Nii-san! It's lunch time, hurry up!" Sasuke yelled from the up the hill. Taylor started up the hill before she realized I wasn't keeping up. I wasn't even moving yet.
Quickly backtracking she grabbed my hand, pulling me along with her. "Come on Itchy! Your mom said she'd make something good!"
My grip tightened around her hand. There was no doubt about it. This little girl had grown on me. And now that she was here I wasn't about to let her slip away.
"Itachi?" Everything started coming back together. My eyes refocused back onto her. Taylor. She was back, from where ever she had gone for eight years. Her normally energetic eyes were clouded with concern. "You okay?" Her hand was gripping my arm, hopefully not wanting me to slip away.
I pulled from her grip, trying to keep a calm exterior. "Let's go." Taylor stood in that spot, more than likely too dumbfounded to move. That seemed to be a common situation for her when I came around.
She cleared her throat a gave a little jog to catch back up with me. "So." Her voice didn't crack with any mislead caution. "About that festival tonight."
My eyebrow quirked instinctively. "I'm a little busy." That was a lie. No member of the Akatsuki was busy at the moment. Ever since the deal with the Kazekage, every was pretty much demanded to stay low by Leader-sama. That meant no missions other than recon or otherwise.
I don't think Taylor caught on to my lie. She was never good at finding a lie. Well, she wasn't good at lying either- no matter how much she thought she was. I'm sure she had me convinced that she wasn't the Taylor I had known at some point. For whatever reason she had for it, I had decided to not call her out on it. It was more comical to watch her mull it over at spontaneous moments when she thought no one was paying attention to her.
"That sucks." She flung her bag over her shoulder. "You and the rest of your criminal troupe better come out, unless you want to make me seem like a loser who walks around at a festival alone."
A smile threatened to show her my compliance to her demands. I was going to show up anyways, but it really seemed she wanted us there. I mentally stopped for a second. She had included the rest of my 'criminal troupe' in her little rant. Meaning it wasn't just my company she wished for. Ever since we met up I had been eyeing the silver pendant around her neck.
The Jashinist pendant. No doubt the foul mouthed Hidan had graciously given it to her. I held back the urge to crack my neck from annoyance. "I suppose we could make an appearance."
Taylor's eyes lit up once more. She most certainly wasn't one to want to let on to her excitement. In fact she probably thought she was quite good at hiding her thoughts. Even someone like Deidara could her like the open book she was. The bag was back at her side as she tried to come off as calm again. "Good. I'll meet you guys at the town gate, then." She sharply turned to me. "Is eight thirty good for you guys then?"
"I don't really think we have a choice." I drawled, still mulling over her new accessory. Was it really my place though to be bothered by it? Even as her seemingly forgotten childhood memory, did I really have a say in her religion? That's what I was going to leave it at. Religion. Because Hidan was a heartless man who couldn't hold feelings for anyone. Especially not her.
Especially not Taylor.
She patted my arm. "Then I'll be seeing you tonight, Itachi." And she was gone. Back into the bakery that had snuck up on us without warning. I could faintly see her disappearing into the doorway of the kitchen.
There was no need to worry. She wasn't going anywhere again. She had told me that I would see her at the festival. Anyways, I was stronger than I was when we had been children. This time I was not going to let her slip away again.
Would you look at that? Another chapter! Well then. Sorry if Itachi seems a little OOC, I'm trying to keep him in himself- really I am! Anywhoo- review for love? :D