Sitting on top of the Sandaime's sculpture, Itachi opened the soda can and drank it along with Kakashi who was standing near him as they viewed the scenery of the entire village from the Hokage Rock.

"Ain't it beautiful?"

"Yeah."

Itachi took another sip, then placed the can next to him. Kakashi opened his and pulled off his mask to drink the soda. He then turned to ask, "How long do you plan to stay here?"

"I will leave at night, but I will come back again two weeks before the exam, and planned to stay here until the exam's over."

Kakashi nodded and hummed 'hmm'. "Well, you're welcomed here as long as you avoid Sasuke. You don't inspire him with kind thoughts by the way."

"I know."

Kakashi spared a glance at the Uchiha, expressing sympathy. He then turned to gaze at the whole village again.

"Any intel on Akatsuki's latest move on the Kyuubi?"

Itachi raised his left knee and rested his left arm on it as he sat on the edge, before telling the jonin, "Currently, we have not yet tracked any Akatsuki member who are coming to Konoha or may have stepped foots on nearby areas. So we don't exactly know what they are planning on the Kyuubi's jinchuriki. Besides, they are now busy with their mercenary jobs, so at least he's safe as of now."

"Good," Kakashi murmured and took another sip. "So all of them are far away from Konoha?"

Itachi nodded to confirm, and grabbed to drink his soda.

"Are you free the day after tomorrow?"

"I think so, why?"

Itachi turned to face his senior, who then crouched down in a squat, "I have a request for you personally."

"Hm?"

Kakashi handed Itachi a Bingo Book, and flipped to a specific page to show him.

"Assassination?"

"Correct. This criminal is of S-rank, named Goba, the leader of a group of rogue ninjas. He and his underlings are responsible for numerous successful robberies in many towns that are situated in the northern borders. I was personally assigned along with three Anbus by the Hokage to get rid of him, but you know, since I wanted to train my cute genins, I would like you to take my place for the mission."

"I will gladly take it but may I ask why you chose me, Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi placed his left hand on Itachi's shoulder and smiled, "Because I know more than anyone that you are more capable than me for this job. So that's why I picked you, Itachi."

Itachi smiled back and nodded as an agreement, and replied, "I know what to do for this mission, Kakashi-san. I will not let you down."

"I'm counting down on you, and don't worry, you will get all the credits for the mission."

Itachi chuckled and drank another sip.

xxx

It's about 7 in the evening. Sasuke was walking to the Hyuga mansion with a box of cinnamon rolls on hand. As he entered through the gate, he saw Hiashi standing outside feeding the fishes at the pond. Before he could open his mouth or approach the clan leader, Hiashi spoke, "You've come, Sasuke."

"Hm?" Sasuke was surprised to see Hiashi already aware of his presence even though he wasn't looking at his direction while he fed the fishes. The leader turned his head toward the Uchiha who stood several meters away from him and noticed the box.

"Cinamon rolls?"

Sasuke nodded as he blushed when Hiashi mentioned the food he had brought along. Hiashi chuckled a bit and commented, "They are my daughter's favorite, so I greatly appreciate that you've brought along the buns."

"T-thanks, I guess?" Sasuke rubbed his head awkwardly and Hiashi gave him a kind smile as he thought He really looked a lot like his father when he looked embarrassed.

After feeding the fishes, Hiashi moved to the house as he invited the Uchiha, "Come inside, Sasuke. Dinner will be ready anytime soon."

Without sounding any reply, Sasuke followed Hiashi into the house. After taking off his shoes and stepped foots inside, he went to the dining hall to see that the food was already prepared and both Hinata and Hanabi were preparing plates and chopsticks on the table. Hanabi greeted Sasuke as he appeared, "Ah, hello Sasuke-niichan!"

Sasuke merely gave Hanabi a nod, then turned to look at Hinata who was blushing as she felt nervous in seeing the Uchiha, "O-oh, y-you've come, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke raised the box of cinnamon rolls to show her as he said, "Yeah, and this is for you."

"Y-you did bought one, Sasuke-kun. Arigato!" Hinata joyfully approached and grabbed the box from Sasuke. She leaned her nose closely to smell the cinnamon rolls.

"How does it smell?"

"It smells good, Sasuke-kun!"

Hanabi merely watched the two of them having their moments with a sweatdrop. She had wanted to tease the couple but decided to keep quiet as to not upset her strict father for acting childish in front of a guest.

Neechan is being too comfortable with Sasuke-nissan though...

Hiashi appeared behind and asked the Uchiha, "Come and eat with us and make yourself at home."

Sasuke returned a nod along with a reply, "Thank you, Hiashi-sama." (Note: Sasuke actually disliked to use honorifics when he was calling people's names, but since Hiashi was the father of Hinata, he had to be formal with the clan leader in respect and to avoid upsetting Hinata.)

The whole family along with Sasuke sat down around the table as they began for dinner. Each of them murmured "Itadakimasu" as they began eating. Throughout the whole dinner, Sasuke was pretty much the center of attention among them, as both Hiashi and Hanabi had asked him about his training with Hinata, and their preparation for the Chunin Exams. Although he was notably quiet just as Hinata was, he was willing to share his experiences with them and was comfortable in talking with them. As the clan leader asked on how Hinata would prepare to face the exam, he even confidently assured that Hinata would definitely pass to become a chunin, much to Hiashi's satisfaction of her eldest daughter's growing power and Hinata's joy for having the boy she liked to acknowledge her.

After eating dinner, they placed all of the plates in the sink to be cleaned. Both Hiashi and Hanabi left the area, leaving only Sasuke and Hinata in the kitchen. Sasuke was about to help Hinata wash the plates when she rejected and insisted to wash for herself.

"You sure that you don't want my help?"

"N-no, it's okay, Sasuke-kun, just lemme wash them myself."

Sasuke paused for a moment, then showed a smirk and gave a flirty joke, "You can be stubborn sometimes and yet I find that trait of yours to be cute."

Hinata's cheeks turned bright pink as she blushed shyly after being flirted, but she then flirted back followed by an unexpected wink, "Not as cute as you, Sasuke-chan."

Sasuke was flabbergasted as he wasn't expecting the shy and timid Hyuga to return the flirt, but then realized that for the whole time he had been together with her since they had graduated, his sarcasm and sense of humor had been influencing her as she had now become more and more accepting of his jokes and had also learned to joke around in recent, though she still retained her shy persona.

He had to admit that the comeback not only made her cuter, but with that wink, it made her looked sexy. The thought of her making such an expression was not what he would've pictured, but when she did, it suddenly made her seductive as for a introverted girl.

Sasuke quickly turned to the other way and scratched his cheek sheepishly to avoid staring at her for too long after seeing her wink which could cause another awkwardness. Hinata let out a giggle, "Well, you know, Sasuke-kun... There are a lot of things that I really want to tell you but couldn't. But I r-really want to say it..."

"Hm, what it is?" Sasuke asked in confusion.

Hinata finished washing the plates and turned to face the Uchiha, with her head bowed down to hide her timid face and fidgeting her hands.

"C-can I t-tell you...?"

"I'm all ears, Hinata. Just tell me, I'm listening."

But then Sasuke realized that Hyugas can use their Byakugan to see through everything, which meant that her father or sister could be using it to see what they were doing. Sasuke whispered, "Oi Hinata, if you want to tell me, can't we go to a more private area? What if the others saw and misunderstood us?"

Hinata shook her head and assured, "We have a rule in the house that forbade anyone from using the Byakugan within the area of the mansion unless in training or in the state of emergency. So don't worry, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke sighed of relief, "Alright, you can tell me here."

"Um... how do I put this... I-I kinda think that the both of us can be more than... just good friend?"

Sasuke's eyes widened. Interpreting the words that had escaped her mouth, he thought that she was confessing her feelings to her. No, she probably was just kidding, he shrugged, until he moved his eyes to see her face fully covered in red. It wasn't anything like her usual blush. It was her very shy but affectionate blush. She must be very likely to have mean it that she not only thought of him as her best friend, but loved him as a lover. That was when his heart began pounding madly. He wasn't expecting it, nor was he actually ready for their chemistry to go further beyond that. He had planned to confess when he passed the exam to become chunin. But it was the opposite, she was the one to confess to him first, and they hadn't become chunins yet.

Sasuke's body was shaking and sweating. Unsure of what to say, he stuttered, "I... uh... y.. y-you what?!"

"I mean it, Sasuke-kun..."

Sasuke braced himself for her next words.

"I... I-I... ano..."

Hinata, don't. I'm not ready for it yet! Sasuke clenched his fist and his jaw as well as closing his eyes, feeling extremely anxious and felt like fainting on spot should she said the three romantic words of 'I Love You'.

Hinata covered her entire face in embarrassment, and bowed down to apologize, then proceeded to run away from him, much to his complete confusion.

"Eh?" (Crow passing: Aho, aho, ahoga?!)

Hinata rushed into her bedroom and slammed the door behind her. She leapt onto her bed and rolled around to vent out her overwhelming embarrassment.

Why am I such a baka? Why am I such a baka? WHY AM I SUCH A BAKA?!

After rolling for what seemed like the fifteenth time, she finally stopped in tiredness, but her face was still fully red as if it had turned into a tomato. She hugged tightly onto her knees as she faced dilemmas in her own thought.

I'm literally not ready for this. I still cannot express my love for Sasuke-kun. I'm so scared... Kami... Why can't I be more upfront?! I was so close to making him mine and yet... How do I face Sasuke-kun from now on? It was so embarrassing!

A knocking was heard on her door, and Hinata gasped, it was Sasuke who was calling for her again.

"Hinata, open the door. I just want to talk."

It's Sasuke-kun... Oh god... Alright, relax Hinata. Relax... Hinata breathed in and out as she kept reminding herself to calm down. She slowly got out of her and approached the door. Sasuke was still knocking and calling but she remained quiet, although she was reaching for the door. She finally grabbed the doorknob, but felt hesitant to open the door.

Relax, Hinata...

She braced herself and opened timidly to see Sasuke standing in front of her. As her lavender eyes met his coal black eyes again, she covered half of her face to hide her blushing but for Sasuke, it was still noticeable.

"Ab-about earlier, I'm... I am sorry..."

"Let's just forget about it, okay? Pretend that it didn't even happened in the first place."

"Hm, forget a-about it?"

Hinata looked surprised as Sasuke suggested to merely forget about the moment that had happened between them earlier as though he could easily get over it. But after analyzing his face for a bit, she could see that he was still bothered due to the visible blush on his cheeks. Soon, he pulled out the box of cinnamon rolls that he had bought earlier, and reminded, "Wanna eat together? You still have left some uneaten."

"E-eh... Oh yeah, I forgot to finish the rest of them..."

"So let's eat together, shall we?"

Though her stomach was now full, Hinata still wanted to eat the cinnamon rolls when she could smell its rich and delicious flavor. She nodded as an agreement and replied, "Um! L-let's eat them all together."

Sasuke returned a smile, and the couple went outside to a garden and sat on a porch swing. They shared and ate the cinnamon rolls while chatting happily, spending the nighttime having their good moments together. In the living room, both Hiashi and Hanabi were watching the two from the window. Hiashi's face remained neutral while Hanabi expressed discomfort with her jaws dropped as she muttered, "Father... Are you okay with neechan like this? Like, neechan is getting too comfortable with Sasuke-nissan."

Hiashi smiled followed by a chuckle, "Well, it looks like your sister is well on her way to maturity."

"Hm, what'd you mean?"

"Who knows. Let the time passes and we'll see how it plays out..." Hiashi stated, much to Hanabi's disapproval as she snapped, "You are being too lenient on neechan, father." As he and Hanabi saw Sasuke teasing Hinata by eating a cinnamon roll when he was pretending to feed it to her, which made her felt embarrassed, Hanabi couldn't help but to smack her forehead while Hiashi shook his head and sighed.

Kids these day grow up really fast...

xxx

(I kinda imagined the Saika OST playing in the background in this scene xD)

Itachi arrived at the main entrance to the Uchiha District, which had been barricaded in off-limits to the public. Nevertheless, he jumped over the entrance and walked to the empty, deserted streets that had once been lively with many residents of the district roaming around before the massacre that he and the two others had incited.

Setting his foots on the place had made him felt unsettled. The eerie atmosphere of the district seemed straight out of a horror movie setting, except the fact it's real and it's just right in front of his eyes. He, however, didn't let his feeling hindered him from walking down further either. Walking and looking around, he could see that all of the buildings were trashed and vandalized, with walls being filled with graffiti that apparently slandered his name as the traitorous, clan killer, dusts and spider webs appearing all over the places and street properties being broken beyond repair. He also noticed that trees and grasses had become overgrown to the point of spreading all over some buildings. Seeing this, he regretted the ever day he slaughtered all of his fellow clansmen except for his brother and the two other Uchihas. The once clean and well-maintained streets of the Uchiha District had turned into the unwanted ruins that had belonged to the glorious empire of the Uchiha Clan by his own hands.

At the very moments he walked down the streets, he could feel hundreds of poor Uchiha souls ostracizing and unwelcoming him. Images of him murdering the civilians and polices with his sword flashed back into his mind. With no one around, it was undoubtedly cold with the breeze of the night. Approaching the mansion he had once lived in with his family, Itachi stopped to look at the house, reminiscing about every happy and enjoyable moments he had spent with his family together, especially with his brother. He imagined the young Sasuke joyfully greeting him at the front door whenever he came back from missions, and Itachi would always poke him in the forehead whenever he rejected to spend time with him, followed by a sincere apology. It was pleasantly memorable, and he missed it...

It started to rain, but Itachi remained standing still, looking above at the moon that was starting to get blurry with clouds blocking it as it rained.

Meanwhile back in the Hyuga mansion, both Sasuke and Hinata were chatting when the rains were falling onto them.

"It's starting to rain..."

"L-let's get inside!"

Sasuke and Hinata quickly got off the swing and ran inside as the rains got heavier and heavier. Hiashi opened the door to the house as he instructed the two of them. Once inside, a servant provided the two of them with towels to wipe the rains off.

"I can't believe that it's raining," Sasuke muttered. Hinata chuckled a bit, "Well, it can't be helped..."

Hiashi approached the two of them as he informed Sasuke, "Well, it looks like you're staying the night here."

Sasuke and Hinata's eyes widened in surprise, "W-w-what?"

"Judging by the heaviness of raindrops and the clouds, it would probably rain for several hours 'till 2 AM tomorrow," Hiashi explained. Sasuke looked at Hinata and smirked.

"Guess I'm staying here for the night."

Itachi stopped gazing at the now obscured moon and headed inside the abandoned house of his. He first stepped inside the living room and remembered the place being where he and his brother would watch television together and would occasionally fight over the remote control. He walked into the kitchen next and reminisced he and his family eating together around the table. He then proceeded to both his and Sasuke's bedroom. Finally, he went into another room that he and his parents would meet up together in the past to discuss about his plans as the Hokage's Anbu to benefit the Uchiha Clan, considering that he was one of the very few Uchihas to have been given such highly respected position within the Konoha's shinobi force, added the fact that he himself was very talented for his rather young age.

Itachi shrugged it off and stopped thinking about it. As he sensed someone was following him, he activated his fully developed Sharingan and ordered, "Come out now, I know that you're here nearby."

A feminine figure emerged from the opened door and praised, "That's to be expected of you, Uchiha Itachi. I'm surprised to see you figuring me out without ever looking."

"Anko-san."

The woman approached with a dango on hand. She appeared to be very beautiful and sexy, styling a violet, short, spiky, fanned-ponytail hair, and wearing a rather seductive clothing that consisted of a tan overcoat and a exposed fitted mesh body suit that covered her down to her thighs.

"Dango?" Anko offered as she took out another dango from a dango box that she had bought. Itachi nodded and grabbed one from her hand and ate it. Anko giggled as she watched the Uchiha eating it enjoyably.

"Like it?"

"Yeah, it's good."

As Anko turned and approached to a drawer, Itachi spoke, "It's been a long time, Anko-san." Anko stopped halfway, then secretly giving away a small smile and replied, "Yeah, it's been a long time too, Itachi."

Anko placed the dango box on the dusty drawer as she asked, "How long has it been, four years?"

"Four years, Anko-san."

Leaning against the wall and folding her arms under her very developed chest, she asked, "How have you been doing all these years?"

"What else, protecting the village from the outside, spying on the Akatsuki and tracking down your sensei, Orochimaru-sama. That's my life in these four years."

"That bastard, Orochimaru. Did you get him?"

Itachi shook his head, and explained, "There are times when we almost had him, and he kept escaping, as if he's playing Cat And Mouse game with us. You know that he's hopeless, Anko-san. He knows too well of the territories he owned."

"I see... Well, it can't be help. That bastard just kept running to his hidden labs, hopping from bodies to bodies, even he resorted to shedding his skins, which is disgusting. Who knows what he might do in his next move."

"Right now we don't even know where he is. Looks like Orochimaru-sama has gotten better in hiding himself," Itachi stated as he walked to look at the rain outside from a window. Irritated at his calling of Orochimaru with the honorific, Anko snapped in a very sharp tone, "It'll be a lot nicer if you drop the 'sama' part, Itachi, that scumbag deserves no respect!"

Itachi paused and looked at her, standing in her angry posture with a furious expression. "Sorry," he uttered.

Anko sighed and regained her composure, apologizing for her outburst earlier.

"No, it's okay. I know why you were angry about it," Itachi assured and gave a small smile. "But you know, we have been trying to track him down and even if we couldn't find him, we will also make sure that he doesn't get anywhere near the village."

Anko nodded. She then bit her lips and clenched her fists in anger, "I hope that when you get him, you bring that good-for-nothing parasite here for me first. I want to beat him to pulp, and then cut his snake head off with my very hands and claim it as a collection of my trophy."

She's so much like my younger brother, so revenge-obsessed. Itachi sighed and smiled, "Didn't we made that promise four years ago? I will bring him to you first, and you get to do whatever you want with him. I wouldn't mind if you want me throw him into the flames of my Amaterasu."

"Heh, sounds good. I wish to watch him burn for eternity in that inextinguishable hell flames of your Mangekyou, Itachi. It feels really good." Anko replied with a sadistic grin. Itachi returned a smirk along with a 'hn' grunt, "I will help make your wish come true, Anko-san."

"You better be."

"Besides, you have changed, haven't you?"

Anko's eyes widened and blushed, "Y-you think so?"

Studying her up close, Anko did change drastically from when he knew her back in Anbu. Back then, her hair was loosely longer, and she often wore jacket conservatively as she was very self-conscious of her own body. But now it seemed to him that she had become more open and even wore the seductive clothing, and her hairstyle had changed too. But what attracted him the most was her face. She no longer had the youthful baby face and since then she had matured to truly become a beautiful woman.

Itachi blushed and giggled, much to her confusion when she asked, "What's so funny?"

"Anko-san, you're still a virgin, right?" Itachi joked. Hearing him saying it, Anko grew furious and yelled as she delivered a punch, "T-Teme! Of course I'm a virgin, are you trying to make fun of me, kora?!"

Itachi landed on the floor. He groaned and covered his bleeding nose, "Ah, I was just joking Anko-san... But still, your taste of clothing did really changed though..."

And it seems that the only thing that hasn't changed is her temper.

"Is it because I am now wearing this sexy clothing and you thought that I am wearing it to give my body away, you aho?!" Anko shouted while grabbing his collar.

"H-hey, relax... I was just joking a-ah... ow..."

Seeing his nose bled, Anko stopped shaking him and checked on his bleeding nose, then took out the tissues to stop the bleeding. Anko giggled again and scolded, "Baka, that's what you get for assuming my virginity."

"Well, you surely have changed in the span of four years."

"From a girl who wore a baggy jacket because she was embarrassed of her own body, to a sexy woman who wore a slutty clothes to get men to rape her?"

"Ah no, that's not... Well, kinda..." Itachi stuttered to her sarcasm. She giggled again and cursed, "Geez, Itachi. You are fucking impossible."

"Big bad Mitarashi Anko got angry about a sexual harassment joke," Itachi joked, and Anko returned, "And big bad Uchiha Itachi got punched for sexually harassing a woman."

Both cracked up laughing for a bit but then Itachi felt a sharp pain in his nose. "Baka, don't move! I'm trying to stop the bleeding," Anko exclaimed in instruction.

As she treated his bleeding nose, she felt a breath to her cheek. Turning her brown eyes around, she gazed at Itachi's onyx eyes looking straight at her. They stared for a while until they both turned their head to the other directions in awkwardness. Anko then pulled out the bloodied tissue and assured, "There, it's not bleeding anymore."

Pressing his nose gently, Itachi inhaled and exhaled comfortably and murmured, "Thank you."

After throwing the tissue into a dusty bin, Anko sat on the dusty drawer with her legs crossed, looking at Itachi who just stood up and went to look at the outside from the same window again. While studying him, she remarked, "You also have changed though."

"Mm? I'm not sure, but what part of me do you see have changed?"

"Let's see... all I can say is that you've grown taller, and gotten more handsome."

Itachi blushed at her compliment and rubbed his head sheepishly.

"And the tear trough of yours, it still looks nice on you."

Itachi turned around from the window to face Anko, and replied, "I was sleepless that time but whatever. And hey, you are no longer an Anbu?"

"I'm now a Chunin Exam Proctor and a regular jonin. Life in Anbu wasn't the same without you so I quit."

"Hmm..." Itachi hummed as he unbuttoned his cloak to mid-chest level and rested his left arm there. "What's so different when I'm gone?"

"You know, there's nobody that I could talk to, or train with. Even worse, I don't have a teammate like you to rely upon in missions. It just became boring afterwards. So I quit to become a jonin instead."

Itachi chuckled, and teased, "You missed me so badly, don't you?"

"N-no, I certainly don't you baka!" Anko denied, but a visible blush appeared all over her face, indicating that she was probably lying about not missing him, and he was amused. A grin was shown on his face as he admitted, "Yes, you were. Otherwise, you wouldn't have stalked me here and believe it or not, I missed you too."

"You w-what?!" Anko asked as she was dumbfounded of what he was saying.

"I say, I missed you too. You have no idea how much I have think of you when I was gone."

Itachi suddenly appeared in a flash close to her, jumpscaring her and she almost screamed out. He bent forward closely to her face, causing her to slowly retreat her body backward. Itachi then wore a smile on his pretty face that was directed toward her and she blushed. Her heart raced and she grew nervous as he moved closer and closer to her. When she couldn't bend her body backward anymore when her head reached the wall behind her, she tried moving her butts to the back across the drawer she sat upon. Itachi's left hand reached and took out a dango from the box next to her and immediately stuffed it into her mouth.

"A-ah?!"

Itachi childishly giggled and asked, "Does it taste good?"

It was the same old trick that Itachi would do to her back in the days. Whenever she opened her mouth, whether she was yawning, laughing, or talking, and he had the dango on hands, he would quickly shove one into her mouth as a prank. She was expecting him to kiss her but instead she fell into the same trick now. She, however, didn't reject the tease as she also liked eating dango anyway and happily chewed them while Itachi was still holding the stick like he was feeding her as a baby until she ate every single one of them. Looking at her eating while he helped feed her, he thought that she looked cute.

Itachi giggled again and Anko expressed annoyance out of embarrassment at his antic earlier. "You know, you are the same kid that shoved dango into people's mouth four years ago."

"I know but it never gets old. Seeing your reaction when I shoved them into your mouth was hilarious."

And the only thing that hasn't changed is his childish prank on me.

Itachi checked the box to see that there were no more dango left in there. So he went for another option: Kiss her lips directly.

Anko was further taken aback when the 3 years younger Uchiha kissed her in the lips. "Mmmm!" She responded with a high-pitched humming but she had no idea what she should be doing for the moment. She had wanted to reject it, but the kiss was so sweet and soft that she couldn't help but to love it. As Itachi force opened her lips, and went inside with his tongue, she opened her eyes wide and sounded, "I-Itachi!"

Her hands grabbed his sleeves tightly and his tongue went deeper. To retaliate, she sucked in his tongue and used her teeth to bit it. His tongue eventually gave in and let her chewed and sucked it at the same time. She gave up chewing his tongue after ten seconds and his tongue went to lick her upper and lower tooth, then penetrated in deeper and ended up fighting her own tongue.

Itachi had wanted to touch her large breasts when he could, but thinking that it might had make things awkward, he contained his urge and continued deep kissing her. Anko, on the other hand, wanted the Uchiha to grope her breast and her desire grew the more she enjoyed the kissing. She could no longer wait and resorted to grabbing his right hand to press against her breast.

Wha- Never... mind... He accepted the dirty offer and now both of his hands were groping the big breasts of hers. He was surprised to know that her breasts were rather soft and smooth, but the longer he grabbed onto hers, the harder they became. He circled them around and squeezed them lightly. Now, he had gotten addicted into toying her breasts and fighting her tongue in the battle of deep kissing.

And now she wanted more than those kisses and gropes. More than what the both of them could have imagined for. It was sex. To accomplish this, Anko reached to unbutton his cloak, revealing a navy shirt underneath. She moved herself forward a bit closer to him and her right hand went under to grope the thing between his legs. Itachi was startled and pulled back, retreating several steps from her and panted heavily.

"I... Itachi? W-what's wrong?"

Itachi covered his mouth in the state of panic. Instinctively, his Sharingan was activated as he gazed upon her.

"I... I am sorry..." Apologizing, Itachi stormed out of the door, and Anko attempted to chase after him. But as soon as she went outside to the rain, she saw no one around anymore. Feeling disappointed and genuine sad, Anko kneeled down in defeat, and punched the ground, muttering, "Damn it..."

FLASHBACK

4 Years Prior, Half An Hour Before the Massacre

"This may be the last time we see each other, Anko-san."

Itachi stood as he faced Anko, who was wearing her mask. A trembling voice was heard from within the mask, which uttered, "S-so, you have decided...?"

"This is inevitable. I have to put an end to this madness so I have decided upon myself to take the risk. I really don't want to but I was left with no choice."

A low but clear sobbing was heard. Anko was desperate to contain her tears but she couldn't. Itachi reached for her mask and pulled it off from her face, revealing stream of tears dripping from her eyes.

"Come on, Anko-san. Don't cry. If you are sad I'll be sad too. Smile, Anko-san, please let me see that nice smile of yours."

Heeding to his request, Anko put up a smile, but a mere second later it turned back upside down as her sobbing was getting louder and her emotion was overpowering.

"Anko-san," Itachi called out again, putting a kind smile toward her. "Maybe you won't like the path that I've chosen for myself, even if what I do may end up taking the very life of mine. But know this, Anko-san..."

Anko's eyes widened."Throughout our partnership, I've enjoyed every moment and every bit of it. The missions that we did together, the conversations that we had together, the foods that we both shared together. Looking back at it, it was nothing but fun and memorable. I've shoved the dango into your mouth countless times, and you had beaten the shit out of me for like infinity. But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, including the everything the both of us do and have together."

Itachi slowly approached Anko, as he continued, "But even when I'm gone, I sincerely hope that you would always remember all the good things about me. I also wished to be able to see you again in the future, though it is now looking fairly uncertain for me and you." Itachi spread his arms and gave her a hug of embrace, "However, I want you to always be a strong woman and get better and better. For you are a friend that I considered the very best, a comrade that I greatly valued, and the girl that I loved dearly."

It was the first time Itachi confessed to Anko about his true feeling for her that he loved her. Anko couldn't believe it, but she was happy, yet depressed at the same time as the Itachi that declared his love to her that she also loved was going to carry out his possible last mission, because the mission itself was too dangerous, even more so than any of the S-rank mission they had did earlier. And even if he did survived, he would still need to disappear for a while from the village and not seeing her for years or maybe even decades. She had wanted to say it and express her feelings back, loud and clear for him to hear but she couldn't. She just didn't know what to do.

Itachi leaned his head to look at her while he was still hugging her, and collided his forehead hers as his fingers ran through her hairs, "It's alright for you to never forgive me for choosing this way and leaving you. But, no matter what happened to you from here now on, I will always love you."

Itachi released and began walking away from Anko steps by steps, while Anko could only just watch as she remained standing still. As he was now several meters away from her and began putting on his Konoha forehead protector, Anko kneeled down and began crying.

Flashback ended

Present Anko was in the same position as she was when Itachi left her, kneeling down with both hands on ground and crying under the heavy rain.

We've finally met after those four years and yet... He still left me...

Anko began cursing out as her hands grabbed tightly onto the grasses, "Damn it, damn it, damn it!"

Somewhere in the forest nearby Konohagakure, Itachi was walking slowly down the path when he stopped and turned back to look at the village's direction.

I'm sorry, Anko-san...

Itachi bowed down his head as he put on the hat, continuing to walk away.

xxx

Clarification: This AU Anko at the timeline was 20 y/o while Itachi was 17 y/o, making her 4 years younger than her original counterpart in original Naruto's Part 1.