"No single thing is perfect by itself. That's why we're born to attract other things to make up for what we lack. I think we start walking in the right direction only after we start getting our counterparts beside us." – Itachi Uchiha
1.
Mirai was putting on her belt while Kakashi was pulling his turtleneck up, in order to cover his face again. He watched her dress up quickly as the break of dawn arrived.
"Let's not make a habit out of it" she suggested as she peaked at him from behind her shoulder.
He looked back at her. "I couldn't agree more".
"Was it that awful?" she chuckled.
"Aren't you supposed to be engaged?"
"I also happen not to be into children."
"Sometimes I wonder if I am" he said to himself, fixing the messed up bed sheets.
"I'm seventeen".
"You are too young".
"Not in bed".
"Smart".
She sat on the bed to tie up her shoes.
"Why do you read this trash?" she asked him randomly, pointing at the small book by his nightstand.
"You can just leave, let's not small talk." He replied idly.
"Smart" She teased him.
"When I saw your notes on Itachi, you were mostly referring on Akatsuki. Now, I know why. Good job." He said, changing the subject.
She stood up and looked at him, her expression was mildly sarcastic but her eyes were still dark and her lips, still red.
"Let's not ruin this romantic vibe with business." She mocked him.
"I still dislike you." He commented lazily.
"That's the way I like it." She said nonchalantly as she made her way to the window.
They looked at each other and they both nodded as Mirai sneaked out of the hospital room.
He closed his eyes for a few seconds and sighed. She was something else. The worst part was that Kakashi had started to figure her out. Not during sex of course, that was rough and raw, nothing more.
He had recently picked up patterns that explained her odd behavior and slowly her character became familiar. He sighed again. He didn't regret fucking with her however he would trully hate himself if they actually became friends and sadly...It appeared to be an option.
The door opened and the morning nurse came in to check up on him.
"Good morning, Kakashi-san! How are you feeling today?" She greeted him with a sweet and warm smile.
"Good morning,nurse!" He replied prettily.
How was he feeling today?
2.
Sasuke abandoned the Leaf Village and joined Orochimaru, thirsty for power after their encounter.
Itachi thought about this vile man and his unnatural actions and felt nauseated. Did he push his brother too much? No, he knew he didn't. There is no such thing as soft treatment, Sasuke should be prepared to do the right thing when the time arrived.
He sighed as he sat, one leg folded and the other supporting his elbow. He had to always remember who he was. Sometimes he couldn't imagine being anyone different and that fact was horrifying. How long does one wear a mask before becoming it?
He thought of her again. Had she kept his ANBU face? Did she destroy it?
He stood up quickly. He wanted to see for himself.
'One last time. I'll go to her one last time, to keep her memory.' He thought to himself.
Itachi traveled for three weeks, using his information gathering skills as an excuse for the Akatsuki. He reached the Grass Village at the beginning of summer. The land was warm and the skies were sunny. The fields were dressed in all the colors and scents. The trees had already produced some fruits, the river was lazily circling the small village. It was noon, children were gathering flowers for garlands that they placed around their necks and hair. He closed his eyes, standing under the shadow of an old maple tree and inhaled the heat, the sunshine and joy of the fields. It felt almost humid on his nostrils.
What a beautiful, generous land. Was Konoha like that? Why didn't he ever stopped to notice?
He tracked her chakra signature and placed it at the river banks, in the forest. She must have been under the willow by now. She would lay there, her kimono pulled away from her snowy shoulders, enjoying the shadow of the tree and maybe wet her feet in the cool river. She would listen to the songs of the nightingales and cicadas, so carefully that she would probably understand their conversations.
He opened his eyes, still standing at the verge of the forest.
What was he doing here? He didn't belong here. How did he assumed he could meet her? Why?
He had been pointlessly chasing around her and for what? Nothing. He could give her nothing but regret.
He chuckled under his breath. He was considered one of the most dangerous rogues out there, yet he was losing his mind over a woman that pushed him away.
'She loves me' the small voice said.
'I know she does. I love her, too.' he replied to himself. 'And in this time and era the best I can do for her is not to hurt her any longer. The best thing I can do for anyone in that matter.'
He nodded, confirming his resolution and turned around to leave, one last time.
The living belonged with the living.
3.
Mirai had been laying beneath the cool shadow of the willow during that lazy noon. Nature was at climax, everything around her was celebrating the arrival of summer. She found herself taken by the festive atmosphere and she tried to forget about the rainy land of Amegakure.
The last few months were surreal.
As she closed her eyes and focused on the living creatures around her, habitually sensing for danger. That's when she sensed him.
Her eyes popped open while she focused on his presence.
Itachi was here. He stood at the verge of the forest, a flowery valley dividing them.
She sat up, expecting to feel him approaching her only he didn't. He just stood there and after a while he walked into the forest.
Mirai acted on instinct and ran to him. She felt him leaving, this time never to return. She ran through the floral bushes, sending petals and pollen to random directions, the warm breeze whipping her face, messing her hair.
She entered the cool forest, protected by the sunlight beneath the heavy dark green and red branches. She felt him stop on his heels.
A few steps later, she spotted him, his feet balancing on the branch of a tall reddish maple tree.
He turned around, his sharingan coloring his black eyes.
"You weren't even able to say goodbye, you coward?" she yelled at him from beneath the tree.
She looked at him, Leaves crowning his figure. He saw her, standing proudly above the Grass. He took a small leap and landed in front of her. He didn't reply.
She wore her casual white kimono, loose around her neck and feet. With her ebony hair and snowy eyes, she appeared before him like the spirit of winter that somehow got stuck in the summer. He smiled softly, behind the high collar of his coat.
They stood there, staring at each other, a thousand words losing all meaning in their silence.
He took one step closer and put his hand on the cavity between her shoulder and neck. Her skin was cool and silky.
"I love you" he declared seriously. "I am a coward for not saying that earlier".
She looked at him, her eyes searching his words for double meanings, for lies, for schemes. She found none and the weight of this realization crushed her lungs.
"If this is your way to say goodbye, I won't accept it" she argued weakly.
He shook his head. "I will not say goodbye".
"What are you saying then? I don't understand!" she snapped, feeling trapped in her own body, beneath his mortal gaze.
'Is this what death feels like?' she wondered silently.
"I love you" He repeated. His hand moved to cup her face.
Her eyes drifted above him and roamed around the crimson canopy.
"There is nothing I can give you" she reasoned with him. With herself.
He leaned close to her face and placed a kiss on her lips. She looked at him.
"There is nothing I can give you" he agreed, repeating her words. "However nothing is better than not even that".
"You despair me" she whispered, her usually calm expression cracking under the weight of his gaze.
"No single thing is perfect by itself. That's why we're born to attract other things to make up for what we lack. I think we start walking in the right direction only after we start getting our counterparts beside us."
Mirai stared at him. "I-"
"Don't." He interrupted her, placing his index finger on her mouth. "Dance with me again, in the future".
"Are you flirting or starting a fight?" she teased him, halfheartedly.
He blinked slowly and his sharingan faded. She threw an arm around his neck and forced him to bend down in order for her to kiss him.
He held her face with one hand and pulled her closer with the other.
Soon later, she jumped on him, wrapping her legs around his waist, her loose kimono revealing her thighs. He undid his coat as he walked and pushed her back on the rough bark of the maple tree.
Their breathing gradually became irregular and husky. She helped him rearrange his pants and underwear, enough for him to be able to move freely inside her. He lowered her kimono, fully exposing her chest as she ran her fingers hastily through his long hair, undoing his ponytail.
They surged each other, both of them desperate to completely merge their bodies and hearts.
Their union was and would always be violent and edgy, deeper than tolerable. He forced her so hard against the tree that her back hurt and she pressed his ribs and lips so much they ached. He never spoke a word, all of his expressions were quiet and they never broke eye contact. Twice or more, she left some gasps and moans but she was otherwise silent,too; his eyes were speaking and she didn't want to miss one word.
They parted abruptly and he pressed one hand on the bark. She slowly slipped downwards, fixing her attire. He did the same after a few panting seconds.
He made up his hair as she removed one small twig from his coat. He looked at her mystified.
"I'm not mad" she joked with flat expression. His eyes laughed but his lips were a straight line.
"Good" he replied simply.
"You must go, I suppose" she commented, sarcastically. She was tempted to knock him unconscious and drag him back to her room. She wanted him again.
"I shouldn't even be here" He replied.
She nodded. "Itachi, I...I will dance with you" she managed to say.
He gave her a distant smile that she could trace all the sweetness hidden behind it.
"Good" he nodded. "Until we meet again" he greeted her, raising his index and middle finger before his chin. His presence started to fade before her eyes but his gaze was fixed on her.
Once he vanished she leaned back, feeling the marks on her back sting.
"Until we meet again..." she sighed.
4.
(Three years later)
Sasuke was laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling of his room. The proper word was "cell" but a prison loses its meaning when one can move freely out of it. Sasuke had entered this cell willingly, in pursue of power. He needed to grow faster. He spent all of his days training and experimenting with Orochimaru and Kabuto. He spent all of his afternoons training alone and gathering useful information about Orochimaru. He spent all of his nights, staring at the ceiling of his room, forcing all the poison of his life down his throat and fueling his hatred.
Sasuke didn't get much sleep. His dreams disobeyed his will, sometimes they were happy and carefree. He didn't want to feel like this even when he was unconcious.
His door opened and Kabuto, a young man with long white hair and glasses threw a fake smile at him.
"Sasuke-kun, your services are needed" he said in a sugary voice.
"Why"
"You'll see. Orochimaru-sama asked specifically for you. Go at the north ward. You'll know what to do." he ordered with a grin as he left him alone.
"Fuck that..." Sasuke said when the older man left.
He consistently wore dark blue pants, over which hanged a blue cloth that covered him from his stomach to his knees, which he secured with a dark purple rope belt; as was common to Orochimaru and his followers. He complemented this with a white long-sleeved shirt kept fully open at the torso and black arm guards that covered his forearms. He picked up his sword and placed it on his belt as he exited the cell.
Sasuke was now fifteen years old but had the arrogance of a veteran; and not unfairly. He walked at the northern ward that was -like all of Orochimaru's hide out- underground and had no windows. He found one of the cells was locked. There was a white marking on the door. That meant that Orochimaru wished the person inside it, dead.
Sasuke unlocked the door and came in to find a woman around her twenties. She had long chestnut hair and the Hyuuga curse mark scorched on her forehead. Her eye sockets were empty. The woman was in horrible shape but she rapidly moved in order to defend herself.
"Who are you? What do you want?" she demanded.
"I'm Uchiha Sasuke and I am sent to kill you" he replied coldly as he unscathed his blade.
The woman froze. "It's you! You traitor!" she spat at his face.
Sasuke lifted his hand and wiped the spit from his cheek with a malicious grin. "For a blind woman you sure have good aim" He mocked her as he swiftly drove his blade through her heart. The woman gasped and coughed blood.
He retrieved his sword from her body that fell on the floor with a loud thud.
"You...you are worst than your brother...At least he killed all of you before he left!" She laughed at him.
"Shut your hole, woman"
"She is going to get you and him...Your end is near!" She whispered, coughing some more.
"Itachi? Who's getting him?" he demanded, turning around and picking her up from the collar of her dress.
"Future..." She mumbled.
"Future? What are you saying? Speak clearly!" He ordered, shaking her body.
She had died.
He dropped her lifeless body on the ground and stared at it for sometime, his eyes reflecting the darkness of his thoughts.