Itachi and I were in a forest somewhere near Iwa. We had just returned from a small bounty hunt Pein insisted we do. We were both sitting against opposite trees in a small clearing, a fire was merrily roaring between us, spreading a soft orange light. I was staring at Itachi, who was leaning backwards against the tree, his eyes closed. I was sure he could sense my eyes on him, but luckily, he was ignoring it. I thought about our relationship, the trust that had grown between us. But... Not only the trust, the need as well. Because I was sure, that if Itachi wasn't here, I would never be able to keep up my facade. I wondered if he knew how I felt about him, and I wondered if he felt the same.

I stared at him and I saw him shiver slightly. I wanted to hug him. I honestly wanted to wrap my arms around him and keep him warm. I didn't know where the overwhelming feeling came from, but the urge was just strong. So I gave in. Slowly and ever so carefully, I stood up. I walked through the grass, that almost looked orange in the dim light our fire provided. It rustled and Itachi stirred, but he didn't open his eyes. Somehow, this gave me confidence. Because I knew, he must trust me too. Otherwise, he wouldn't have allowed me to come so close while he had his eyes closed. Although I was quite sure that Itachi could still kill me, albeit with some effort, if I tried anything.

When I stood next to him, I soundlessly sat down. 'Hey.' I said quietly. 'Hello.' Itachi replied, and I could hear some level of amusement in his voice. I couldn't help but smile at his answer. He almost never replied with "Hn." anymore. Actually, he only did it if we were in the company of others or when he was feeling uncomfortable or irritated. Because, yes, I was able to read him like that now.

When I didn't continue speaking, a small thrown appeared on Itachi's face and his eyes opened. 'Is something wrong?' He asked me quietly. I shook my head. 'No... Not, wrong.' I let out a sigh, and mustering up a fair amount of courage, I wrapped my arms around him, resting my head on his strong chest. Again, it was quiet for a while. 'What are you doing?' Itachi asked finally, a small trace of surprise in his words. 'I'm not sure...' I breathed, 'do you mind?' A small smile played on Itachi's lips. 'Not particularly, no.' I smiled as well.

We lay like that for a long time. When finally, I sat up. I sat next to Itachi facing him, as he frowned softly. 'What is it?' He asked, seeing my expression. I swallowed hard, wondering if I could say it out loud. 'You... You're going to-' I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I don't think I could do it. I felt Itachi take my hands in his and I opened my eyes again. 'Hitomi... You're the bravest person I know. What could possible scare you this much?'

For a second, I stared at him in disbelieve. How on earth could he know, when I was trying to hide it so badly, that I was afraid? I took another deep breath. 'You'regoingtolethimkillyou.' I said, as fast as I could. Another deep breath. 'Aren't you?' I asked him, and almost accusing tone in my words, as a mask, to hide the desperation behind them. Itachi closed his eyes and leaned his head backwards against the trunk of the tree. He said nothing. I swallowed, I was getting anxious now. After almost ten minutes, I spoke up, 'Itachi?'

Itachi sighed, 'Yes.' he said. 'Yes, I am going to let him kill me.' The calm way he spoke those words shocked me. They shocked me and they scared me. How could he speak about death like it was nothing. Didn't he know there were people that cared about him? Perhaps he didn't. I was going to ask him, but he beat me to it. Like he always did. 'What I don't understand, however, is how this can possible scare you so much. You have become a very fine Kunoichi. You will be more than able to handle the Akatsuki, if does come to something like that.' He told me. I shook me head again. 'No. No, that's not... Itachi, I don't want you to die.'

It took me a lot of courage to say that and I am really glad I did. He stared at me and I almost believed I saw something akin to shock in them. Almost. 'You... You really care that much?' He asked me, and this time there was definitely surprise in his voice. 'Yes!' I told him, too quickly. He just continued to stare at me, bemused. After a while he sighed, 'Hitomi... Hitomi, I don't want to leave you.' My eyes went wide. I felt my cheeks heating up, and I didn't know why. Did he really care about me? As in actual care? I mean, I know we were friends at that point, maybe even good friends. Well, okay, very good friends. And I knew that he felt the same way about it. But this was still surprising. That wasn't an excuse for my body language though, was it? 'But I have to.' And my heart sunk. Not just to my stomach. No, right through. So far, I couldn't even feel it anymore. And even though I felt like that, I forced a smile, 'I know.' I told him, 'I understand.'

Itachi sighed again, 'Hitomi, please don't.' he said. 'Don't what?' I asked, a fake cheery tone in my voice, that hurt even my own ears. Or perhaps it only hurt my ears. I hoped so. I hoped he didn't hear it. 'Force yourself to smile. You can be yourself, you know... Because you, the real you, is so beautiful.' And the feeling was back. Despite the fact that I knew I would lose him, lose the person I cared fore so deeply, right now was almost perfect. It had been a lot better if Itachi hadn't just announced his death, of course.

I smiled at him, a real, genuine smile this time. 'Itachi.' I said softly. 'Yes?' He replied, in the same tone. 'I will be there with you every step of the way, and I will support you, just like I promised.' I sighed and made to stand up again, but two strong hands gently pulled me down again. And I felt two soft lips gently touch mine. And at first I didn't fully register what was going on, but then... Itachi's lips. Itachi was kissing me. And utter shock came over me. Not just shock, though. Shock and a very warm, very happy feeling. A very warm and very happy feeling that was almost instantly crushed.

I pushed him away, 'Stop it.' Because I did not think it could be true. For some reason, I felt almost betrayed by him. This time I was sure of it, this time there was shock in his eyes. Genuine shock. 'Hitomi, I'm... I'm sor-' 'No.' I interrupted him. 'Listen, I don't want you to force yourself to do anything either, okay? You don't have to-' His lips were on mine again, cutting of whatever futile excuses I was making. As his lips left mine, he quickly spoke up, cutting me off before I even had the chance to say something. 'Hitomi,' he almost whispered, 'I want to do this. I've wanted to do this for longer than you can imagine. And please, the time we still have together... Let's make the absolute best of it.' I smiled and I felt a tear leak out of my left eye. Surprised, I wiped it away. I looked up at Itachi's eyes. Eyes that were filled with more emotion than I had ever seen before. Loneliness, hope, desperation, but most of all, love.

At that moment, I felt we could defeat the world. If we would just did it together. Even after he would sacrifice himself, Sasuke would come back to Konoha, the Akatsuki and Orochimaru would be defeated and finally, finally, there would be peace. And the beautiful thing was, I had no idea how incredibly wrong I was. Back then, I just enjoyed the moment. I enjoyed it more than I had ever enjoyed any moment. Ever.

I leaned forwards again and wrapped my arms around Itachi's neck, putting my forehead to his. I looked him in the eye and without one trace of fear, doubt, insecureness, I told him, 'I love you.' Only realising the true meaning of those words and how honest and genuine my feelings were as I said it. His eyes widened just a little bit and then the warmest smile I had ever seen broke through on his face. A real, honest to god smile. Not a small smirk or a grin, like he always did, a real smile. The same smile appeared on my face, as he moved his lips to mine once again.

And that was, without doubt, the best night of my life.

Well, hello there.

Still remember who I am? No? Doesn't really surprise me.

Dear readers/subscribers/reviewers, I am so sorry it has been so long since the last chapter. I have been incredibly busy with school and the theatre and singing and it has been a great kind of busy, but a very busy kind of busy all the same.

I hope you enjoyed this small chapter, the next one will be a lot longer, I promise. And it will come by a lot faster than this one did. Also, it's almost time for summer holidays, so I will have a lot more time to write. Although I will be joining camp NaNoWriMo in August.

I think, however, that I will be finished with this story in August, because it isn't going to last that long anymore. I think, after this one, there will be three or four - albeit long - chapters. But not to worry, a sequel has been planned. Naturally, I can't give away any details yet, but it's going to be great.

I've also got to apologise for my tardiness concerning the "Hall Of Fame" on my profile wall, I will probably have time to edit it this Saturday, because, yes, I am really very far behind. Oh, and I apologise for the lame name of this chapter, because, - if anyone had hoped for it, I'm sorry -, but no, there will be no marrying. At least not in this story.

If anyone has a better idea for the title (maybe Japanese god(dess) of love or something?) please review. Any good idea will probably be used. One rule though, it has to be a name.

Ah, yes, it's a bit to o soon to be making any promises, but I think I will be re-writing the first couple of chapters from this story, filtering out the grammar mistakes and adding some new content and all that. Also, if anyone is interested, I am a Beta.

Well... I think that is all for now. If there are any questions or anything else, just press that beautiful blue review button. Because, yes, constructive criticism is much desired.

Thanks for reading my rant and of course my story,
I sincerely hope you are enjoying it (the story of course, not the rant),

x, Faith Bell.