Chapter Two

The Weight of the World

sinceritea

Again

She had finally stumbled her way back home. Her feet hurt and her eyes hurt even more from the tears they had shed. And her stomach felt queasy and she was still trying to realize that she had just conversed with Itachi, mass murderer Itachi, the man who everyone hated, feared, revenged upon-

Why had he talked to her? Wasn't he smart enough to find Sasuke for himself? Then why had he even bothered to open his mouth and talk to her?

She struggled up the stairs, ignoring the questions from her little sister, the servants that rushed past, the everyday insult from Neji, and collapsed onto her bed.

Her bed had memories of tears, blood and pain. They encompassed her dreams of love, freedom, power.....they held everything she ever knew, wanted, had...

She was a fifteen year old girl whose life was as dead as the bodies that lay underground.

Often, she wished she could trade spaces with them. She wondered if her family would shed a tear after her demise or maybe they would have a huge celebration and Naruto would come and they would laugh over stories of her foolishness and weakness and cowardice-

You're a coward.

Itachi...

His eyes were pools of darkness that she knew didn't have a bottom. He was so mysterious, aloof....dangerous, despicable.....

" I want to die.."

He was going to die. At Sasuke's hands.

She wanted to die. But she had ended up pleading for her life. She knew that she needed to live...to accomplish her needs, wants, dreams-

Maybe she should tell that to Itachi...

Maybe she should warn the Hokage about his appearance..

Maybe....was her last thought as she drifted off to sleep.

Dreaming of the endless pools of darkness that were his eyes.

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He wondered why he had even bothered to talk to her. He had watched her for a while, wondering who she was and why she was dazed. She often had broken into little sobs before staring blankly into space. She sat at the hollow of the tree, her dark blue locks falling over her face, a ninja's headband around her neck. She was covered by a large beige sweater and her pale, colourless eyes giving the impression that she was indeed dead..

He was fascinated. To be honest, to be dead truthful, she had entranced him for a reason he could not define.

And he had talked to her. She was afraid of him....she backed away from him, she stammered, she pleaded and begged him to spare her...

Yet indeed, his thoughts focused on her as he walked silently though the pathways to the Uchiha household.

He paused outside his old household and breathed in the familiar smell.

And remembered how he had killed each one of his family members. He hadn't meant to kill them all. It was only his parents he wanted to kill. But the rest of them had gotten in his way....

Every night, his dreams would be haunted by their dead facse. His brother's devastated face as he screamed in torture at the dead bodies of his parents.

Didn't he realize? Didn't he realize what his parents were doing to him? Didn't he realize..

No...no one had realized. Ever..

Only Itachi did. And only Itachi did anything about it..

His eyes peered into the household. Sasuke was sleeping. The time wasn't right.

He would come back tomorrow..

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Tomorrow. She watched the bidden forests with fearful eyes. She took tiny steps as she walked towards her place, her hollowed tree, her special place..

And wondered inwardly, if he would be there.

If he would be standing there once again. Whispering in her ear, as her heart thumped with fear of death..

You're a coward.

Never be a coward.

She reached the place and her byaakugan activated and she searched for a sign of Itachi.

He was nowhere to be seen.

Maybe dead already....she felt herself fall to the ground and she felt her body sag. If he was dead, then good riddance. He was a murder. He deserved death...

He wanted to change. He could change..

No he couldn't...no he couldn't change, no he was a murderer!

" He can't change...he's a murder...." She murmured, absentmindedly.

" Yes, that I am," a voice answered

She screamed in shock and turned around. No one was there.

Then her head tilted upwards.

He was on the tree branch, his head tilted to the side, watching her. She felt her body began to tremble once more...yet inwardly, she knew that it wasn't completely of fear.

"Y-you came back... again...a-and your not dead..." She stammered, her eyes wide.

He stared at her for a long while. He had a habit of doing that, staring at her with those dark, onyx eyes. " Yes." He answered simply. " It wasn't the right day."

She cleared her throat. " You didn't k-kill me."

" No," He answered. " But I didn't say I wouldn't."

She tensed and shifted. " Why are you t-talking t-to me?"

He stared at her. " I don't know. Stop questioning me. Death is still inevitable. It could be the last thing I do before I die."

Hinata shook, as she knew the truthfulness in his words. He hadn't hesitated to kill his family...why would he hesitate to kill her? He didn't even know her....he didn't even like her...

Once again, the strangeness of the situation hit her and she had to dig her fingers into the soft grass where she sat to prove to herself that it was happening. This was real.

" Why do you stutter?" He asked, quietly.

She jerked. Then his answer sunk in and she whispered, " I'm afraid."

" Of me," He responded, his reply not a question, but more a statement.

" No...I-I'm afraid of ev-everyone..." She replied, her voice low and soft.

With a fluid moment, he jumped down from the tree branch and landed in front of her. Too close. Way too close. She felt her body back away and she stared at him fearfully.

" You are afraid," He said, then backed away a bit. " Fear. That's what you are."

She looked down, feeling ashamed. For some reason, she felt a need to prove to him...prove to him what she had wanted to prove to everyone of Konoha...

" I'm trying.." She said, a clear tremble in her high voice. " I'm t-trying to...to change that..."

" No one can change, " He said coldly. " No one."

" I-I don't believe that..." She said, looking up at him. " I don't believe that at all. I will c-change. I will."

He stared at her. She had only stuttered twice and the determination in her eyes struck a chord deep in his chest.

He turned around and said over his shoulder, " You won't change. You'll still be the coward, the useless daughter of the Hyuuga clan...a weakling who isn't even worth death from my hands..."

With that, he walked away, leaving her shaking behind him. Those words echoed in her mind and a few days ago she would've agreed full heartedly. Even now, the words had a truth in it that she could not deny.
But she would always work towards her goal. She now had a goal, like everyone else. And it was not death.

She wanted to live. No longer was she living to die.

Itachi stood outside Sasuke's house once more...his old house. He watched Sasuke eat silently and saw Sasuke go upstairs and sleep.

Today's not right either, he thought to himself. And with that he turned around and walked off, the girl's words still echoing in his ear. I will change...I will...

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Sasuke's eyes flared open and he leapt to his feet, racing to his window. He searched outside fruitlessly, before his shoulders sagged and he backed away.

He was almost certain someone was watching him.

Somebody was watching him.

He sat back down on his bed. He knew that it wasn't one of his fan girls or someone from the city this time. He felt a shudder race down his back.

He didn't know who it was....but he knew it wasn't good...

a/n: Seconnddd Chapter! so there will be two or three more....then itz dun...i think...

lol thanx for ur reviewz and yuppppp im ATTEMPTING (no promises) to keep itachi in character...and not to have three sixty turnabouts which absolutely suck in my opninon...send in comments and suggestions.