Disclaimer

Neither the characters nor the story are of my property, they belong to their respective authors.

This story is a dark stalker romance with extreme dubious situations.

Please proceed with caution.

Itachi

I stare at the spider —a small thing with hairy legs and an ugly fucking face.

And yet, it put my little Petal into a complete panic mode.

"What's your story, boy?" I narrow my eyes on him. "Who gave you the right to mess with her head?"

Only I have the right to do that, and I didn't even start yet.

At least, not officially.

I know she senses me, with the small looks she throws around her, but she always brushes it off.

I throw the spider out of the balcony. For fuck's sake, I'm starting to speak to animals like the cat lady herself.

She's at work now, and I didn't follow her because I have a meeting with one of Senju's old workers, someone who can recognize the Senju heir's whereabouts.

Still, I sit at my balcony and stuff a cigarette between my lips, watching her living room. The two cats are lazing around by the closed door, waiting for her to return.

Considering she was the last one with Dr. Asshole, the police must've visited her, asked her questions, but the camera gave her an alibi. She left before I 'robbed' him.

She should be safe.

Not that her safety matters, but I still have unfinished business with my little Petal and the police don't get to have their noses in my fucking fun.

My phone vibrates on the table. Tobirama. I take a long drag of my cigarette before I answer.

"The fuck, Itachi?" The bellow of his voice in my ear nearly deafens me, and I have to hold the phone away for a second.

"Good day to you, too, Tobirama."

"Cut the crap. I have a report about a dead doctor with a fatal wound to the neck. This has your fingerprints all over it."

"I'm too pro to leave fingerprints."

"You know what I mean." Something slams on a harsh surface on his end —probably his hand against the desk. "That's your MO and anyone who met you knows it."

"We're lucky most of them are dead, no?"

He pauses. "Does this have to do with finding Hashirama's son?"

If I tell him yes, he'll dig into it and force results, and when he figures out there aren't any, it'll be a different type of hell.

Despite my semi-independence, my loyalty runs with Tobirama, and if he suspects I'm lying to him, it'll only turn ugly for the both of us.

"It's personal," I keep it vague.

"Personal how."

"He pissed me off." And he touched what he shouldn't have.

The list can go on.

"Pissed you off?" He repeats in an incredulous tone. "You have perfect self-control."

True.

Only not with my little Petal. That immaculate self-control has been chipping at the edges, and soon enough, there'll be a snap.

I have enough self-control to recognize that.

"Won't happen again," I tell Tobirama.

"Of course it won't. I told you to keep a low profile this period, Itachi. I don't have police dummies to spare for someone who pissed you off. Hashirama's men are pushing for his heir, and if you don't find him before them, well, I don't have to tell you what's done to useless dogs."

"Noted."

The line goes dead. I stub out the cigarette on the edge of the table, not bothering with an ashtray.

Tobirama might have saved my life, but if I'm of no use, I'm disposable just like the rest.

That's why I made sure to be unlike the rest. I'm someone he can't live without, let alone think about disposing of.

The day he finds someone more efficient than me, he'll send them after my life as a test to take my place.

I know because I became his number one hitman after I took care of the previous one.

That won't be the same for me. I'm goal-oriented enough to keep my head focused on the endgame.

Track. Find. Kill.

So what the fuck am I doing here, watching a girl's cats and wondering about their fucking names?

There are two options to erase my little Petal out of my head.

Option one: find out everything to know about her, she'll turn out to be boring and I'll move along. I usually lose interest in people whenever I know details about their lives —that's if I have any interest in them in the first place.

That option is halfway done now. It's time to complete the job.

An hour later, I'm going through my little Petal's credentials in her bedroom. I don't sit, and I'm wearing gloves out of habit, even though there are no actual security threats. Breaking into her house is fucking child's play. I can even have a double key made.

I store that idea for later.

The two cats watch me wearily, actually only one of them is, the orange tabby. He's been hissing and growling like the other night but is now glaring like he wants to bite me.

Does he think he's a fucking dog?

The other one sleeps at the foot of Petal's bed, its tail darting back and forth.

I rummage through her desk and stare at her diploma and official documentation. Her name is Sakura Haruno, twenty-seven years old, and has graduated from nursing school a few years ago. She worked in a private clinic before moving to the state hospital.

Grade A student and an actual nerd —aside from being a cat lady.

Her photo album is filled with pictures from foster children fundraising —she was the recipient in several.

Even as a pre-teen and a teen, she had that fake, fucked smile all over her face.

An orphan.

That would've been interesting if I cared. So far, nothing stands out. Boring life, boring beginning. I'm starting to think her orange cat is the only interesting thing in her life. He's a furious little thing.

And maybe her irrational fear of spiders.

I tap my gloved index finger against a picture of her nurse school graduation. Why did she choose this profession? Why did she look on the verge of dying upon seeing that tiny spider?

Fuck this.

I should get out of that door, leave the apartment across the street and wipe the girl with green eyes and fake smile from my head.

And yet, I can't.

It's as simple and as complicated as that.

I simply can't.

So I move on to the second option. Two girls stand on either side of my little Petal on her graduation day. Her nurse friends in the state hospital.

One of them picked her up when her ugly Honda didn't start up a few days ago.

The orange cat hisses at me as I arrange the files exactly where I found them. There'll be days where I'll go in-depth about her things, but for now, I have to meet my contact and settle this Senju heir issue once and for all.

A black cloth peeks from the underwear drawer and I retrieve it. A pair of lace panties.

I put them under my nose and inhale. It's nothing like her lilac scent and more fresh, washed.

Shame.

After putting them back where they belong, I'm out.

The fat orange cat follows me all the way to the living room then jumps on the counter near a cup. I stop and turn around then rotate the black cup to read what's written on it.

I work hard so my cat can have a better life.

A deep chuckle leaves my lips. This is a serious cat lady, isn't she?

The orange tabby jumps away, still glaring at me as if not approving of how I'm laughing about his owner —or his maid, depending on his perspective.

After one last sweep over her small apartment, I make a note of where I can install listening devices. Then I snap a picture of the calendar she's pinned to her refrigerator. It's filled with dates about her nights out with the girls, which happens every weekend if she doesn't work the night shift.

If she needs to write it in her calendar, she must not care about those nights much.

My little Petal's life might seem boring from the outside looking in, but there's something that lurks under the surface.

I can smell it as easily as I smell blood and sense it as easily as I detect fear in my opponents' eyes before I carve them the fuck up.

My instinct tells me to dig deeper, and while it's fucking irritating not to know where this is taking me, I don't ignore my instinct.

The contact I met, the previous gardener of the Senjus', barely remembers the boy. He only knows that Hashirama Senju brought his woman and child and then they were gone the same week.

The boy could've had the name of Haruki or Hiroshi.

The gardener, Homura, is a man in his late eighties and doesn't remember well.

The information might as well have been fucking useless to me. I know for a fact that Haruki or Hiroshi or whatever the fuck his name is, has a mother. She could be dead or alive or hidden by Hashirama. However, if he knew where the mother is, he should've found his son, too.

Now, I'm back to point zero. The gardener agreed to search for those who worked with him before, the ones who don't have much of a record with the Senju because they haven't stayed there long enough to warrant a file.

Most of them are dead, but some are still alive.

With nothing better to do, I go back to my current favorite hobby. Fine, not a hobby, an obsession.

I take a drag of my cigarette as I follow my little Petal. It's about ten and she opted to walk halfway to the hospital after her car bailed on her.

She really needs to have that car checked, or better yet, throw it the fuck away.

Her steps are fast and fluid, almost as if she's in a job. Her coat covers her frame, hiding the curves I've seen but wasn't able to feast on.

I keep a good distance, walking on the other side of the street. She wouldn't have noticed me even if I was walking right behind her. My little Petal is one of those who shut away the outside world when in the middle of chaos, and only focuses on getting where she needs to go.

The police would notice me, though. There's a slim chance they're still watching her for what happened with the doctor, and I'm not ready to take that chance.

As she takes the turn to the hospital, I stop. She stops, too, and for a second, I think she sensed me all along and will now turn around and confront me.

I don't move, waiting for the moment she spins around. If she does, I'll erase my plans and do this her way.

I'll show her my true nature, bend her over her balcony and fuck this obsession out of her.

She doesn't turn around, though.

My little Petal crouches at the corner. I lean sideways to see what she's doing.

A small black cat sits in the corner and she stares at him with starry-wide eyes, as if she's seen a treasure. Her smile is bright and soft, reaching her eyes, slightly closing them.

It's anything but fake.

It's utter happiness.

Fuck me.

How can someone look at cats like that?

My little Petal reaches into her bag and retrieves a tuna can then offers it to the kitten. Most women keep makeup in their bags, she keeps fucking cat food.

Go figure.

She plays with the kitten for a whole minute, and the little animal appears vulnerable, casting black magic on her to take him.

It's working, too. Petal continues staring between her watch and the cat, biting her lower lip.

She wants the cat, but she must think she can't have more.

With one last caress, she stands up and walks ahead, pulling out her phone. She'll probably call some animal association, she has their cards on her counter, like a good old cat lady.

I turn around and go into Starbucks. I order an espresso and kids' snack, ignoring the cashier's attempts to flirt with me as I settle on the table near the door.

It should happen in three seconds, two, one…

The entrance nearly rattles from its hinges as two kids fly inside in all their energy.

A woman follows, wearing scrubs and carrying a wailing baby in her arms.

"Stop that, Inojin," she yells at her son who's pulling on his younger sister's pigtails.

Her eyes are bloodshot, as if she didn't sleep the previous night, most likely because of the toddler whose mouth she's shoving a baby bottle into.

"Inojin!" she yells when the kid tries to kick his sister to the ground. "Can't I order in peace?" Her voice lowers. "For fuck's sake."

With their mother turned away, I wave my snack in front of them.

The kid trots in my direction first and the sister follows as their mother gets engrossed in ordering her drink.

"You want this?" I ask Inojin.

He nods once.

"If I give it to you, will you share with your sister?"

He hesitates but then nods again.

"Now ask your mom for permission."

"Mommy!" he screams. "Can I have it please, please?"

Ino finally turns in our direction and notices that her kids aren't silent because they listened to her.

She smiles at me and I smile back. This isn't the first time I do this for her kids. It's precisely the third. We reached a point where she sighs in relief whenever she sees me.

"Oh, my God." She balances the now quiet toddler on her hip and takes the coffee with her other hand. "You're a lifesaver, I don't know how to thank you."

"They're adorable kids." They're not, but she doesn't need to know that.

I push the plate in front of them. Inojin and his sister get busy eating as Ino gulps a mouthful of her latte before she sighs again. She's one of those who feel out of her element if she doesn't have caffeine in her system.

"I swear I made the mistake of my life by getting married at my freshman year," she grumbles while drinking. "It's stupid, seriously don't do it."

I smile, appearing every bit the gentleman she believes I am. "I think it's too late for that. I'll be lucky to get married at all now."

Her slurping stops as she watches me intently. Too intently, like she's seeing me for the first time. She gives me a onceover and slightly narrows her eyes in calculation.

Bingo.

She's seeing me from a different perspective.

"Why? How old are you?"

"Thirty-three." I take a sip of my coffee appearing nonchalant. "I always seem to miss the right one. I don't give up, though."

She pauses. "Itachi, right? What did you say you work as again?"

I never mentioned my work, and she well knows that, but she's using her woman skills to gauge what she needs to know.

"HR in C Electronics." I give her my card.

C Electronics is one of Tobirama's few legitimate businesses, small but lucrative. And technically, I'm the head of HR for the Senju organization.

I clean the unwanted humans.

Ino tries to hide she's impressed as she studies my card, and fails. She's more than impressed, she already has a plot.

She balances her toddler again, eyes fleeting over her other two children before she meets mine again. "This might seem too sudden, but I actually have an amazing friend who I think would be a great fit for you."

Bingo again.

I feign disinterest. "No, thanks. I don't have good experiences with arranged meetings."

The best way to negotiate is to pretend you don't care for what the other party offers.

She appears flustered. "Of course. I understand. But I promise it's different this time." She leans in to whisper. "She doesn't like arranged meetings either. You already have something in common."

Hmm. Interesting.

I raise an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

Ino's eyes light up as she pushes her kids aside, ignoring their protests and retrieves her phone. She shows me a picture of my little Petal carrying a baby, the toddler in Ino's arms, I suppose, and smiling softly at the camera.

I know what Ino's doing. She's showing me that Petal actually cares for kids and can be a good mother, wife, the whole package. If she were a seller, Ino would've had the highest sales.

Still, I have this urge to shake her and tell her not to show my little Petal's pictures to anyone.

That's not her fucking place.

A red mist covers my vision at the thought that she showed this picture to other men, letting them fantasize about a life with my little Petal.

Fuck them.

"Her name is Sakura —but we call her Saku. She's twenty-seven and a complete darling. She listens to me rant all the time and always tells me it's going to be okay. She's quiet and a hardworker." Ino blurts all the qualities as if she learnt them by heart. "And she's so pretty."

I can see that.

I'm only surprised how Ino doesn't see the fake smile on her friend's face.

"I don't know. She seems too good to be true. How come someone like her isn't taken?"

"The same reason someone like you isn't taken. Fate, my friend."

This woman is an interesting one. I bet she still believes in fairy tales. "Give me something, Ino."

She bites her lip, contemplating how to break this to me without killing any hypothetical chance her friend has. "She's just a loner. It's nothing bad, it's only that she prefers to be alone. She had two boyfriends, though. She can adapt."

Two boyfriends. Interesting.

And will turn more interesting if any of those fuckers returns into her life.

I meet Ino's gaze with my suspicious one. "Do I have your word for it?"

A shit-eating grin nearly splits her face open. "Oh, absolutely!"

My entry into my little Petal's life is done for.

My plan is already in motion.