The Weight of the World

Surprises

"Hinata!"

Hinata stopped in the middle of her trek to the market and turned around slowly, apprehensively not actually believing that the voice she heard nearly every day of her life could be calling out to her..

" Hinata!" Naruto smiled widely as he caught up to her. " I've been calling you for hours!"

" No you h-haven't-"

" Well, it felt like hours!" Naruto grinned and put his hands behind his head, walking beside her. Hinata felt her face flush hard and she gripped her bag tighter.

She was more fearful now then the fear that gripped her heart after her meeting with Itachi. She had avoided going back to the place where they had met the day before and she was attempting to avoid going back there again.

But temptation called and she knew she would give in. Even though she had no idea what to expect from Itachi...if he would kill her or leave her alone or-

" Hinata?"

Hinata jerked back to reality and with growing embarrassment as she realized she had tuned out of Naruto's conversation, she flushed hard. " Y-yes?"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow and repeated, " Can you come?"

Hinata felt her heart thump against her chest and she breathed, " Co-come where?"

" To my house. So you can help me prepare Sakura's birthday present!" He grinned and Hinata felt her heart leap and fall, brighten and dull, born and crushed all at the same moment.
He wanted to talk to her. Involve her in his life...even if it was for another girl...

" O-okay..."

" Great!" Naruto grinned. " Come over to my house around seven, all right? You're the best, Hinata!" Naruto yelled, in his trademark loud voice and after shooting her a thumbs up sign, he was off in the opposite direction, leaving Hinata behind in the dust.

Her heart was beating hard and she rose a hand to her cheeks to check if they were as hot as she felt. Was that moment real?

Then her thoughts turned once again towards the dangerous man in the woods...who came everyday, if only to insult her...but his presence, his whole...it attracted her like a moth to light and she knew that she could never avoid him, never..

And she found herself walking that familiar route to the woods, once more, hardly realizing it and hardly thinking that she could be walking herself to an instant or slow death.

Itachi sat on the branch, staring blankly at the ground. She hadn't come.

Again.

Why he was waiting here for her, he didn't know. Why he was standing here, not training, not confronting Sasuke, not doing ANYTHING..

He didn't know.

His fingers clenched into the palm of his hand and he fought to keep himself calm. He had come here to die. And here he was, prolonging death...

For his curiosity. This girl...this girl, she...intrigued him, for a lack of a better word. And probably because of the last incident that had happened, where he had probably disintegrated the last of her emotional barriers, she was avoiding him..

Maybe she had already alerted him to the Hokage...but that would be easier then to randomly show up to Sasuke and demand a fight. That way, Sasuke would find out about him and seek him, knowing that he was somewhere in Konoha.

Then a crunch threw him out of his thoughts and his sharingan instantly alerted, looking down. Hinata stood there, eyes wide with fear, looking around herself nervously. She was looking for him..

Then her shoulders seemed to droop and she sat down at the hollow of the tree, fingering the grass listlessly. Itachi stared at her profile, his eyes narrowing. She was a plain sort of girl, nothing glamorous. Her pale eyes were a bit unnerving and she had a nervous outlook that almost screamed timid at the top of its lungs. She was hardly beautiful.

Yet she was...fascinating. Exotic. Enticing.

Then he grinned. She had come for another bout of arguing.

Let it begin then.

With that, he jumped down for his perch and landed in front of her, listening with a satisfied smirk as she let out a squeak of surprise.

Oh she was a weakling. Disgustingly pathetic.

But something kept drawing him back.

She shrieked, her hands flailing at his sudden appearance. Honestly, she should've expected it by now, but she had been so set on the fact that he wasn't going to show up, that when he did...

It had made her both tense and afraid...yet, relieved and happy.

How such a dangerous slaughterer could arise such contrasting emotions in her...she didn't know.

" Hyuuga," He said, shortly, his eyes glittering with a cold amusement that she knew only too well. Everyone around her had that look in their eyes. Neji, Sasuke, her father...

" You didn't come yesterday."

Hinata fought to keep her breathing under control. She looked at him as bravely as she could and said, " Did I e-ever say that I came here e-everday?"

His eyebrows shot up and even she was surprised at her own comment. He leaned back on his heels and cocked his head, observing her. Then his lips upturned the corner and his expression showed acceptance as he sat back, across from her.

" All right. Fair enough."

Then his eyes grew steely. Hinata felt the hair on her arms rise as he suddenly shot across the distance between them and hissed, low and breathy, " Don't you dare tell me to shut up. One lesson. Never, ever show me disrespect."

Then he was back again, to his normal position. Hinata could not breathe and she noticed, quite belatedly that there as a sharp pain on her cheek. She reached up and touched her cheek, nervously as if any movement she made would cause him to snap and kill her.

Then she realized he had cut her. She didn't notice the kunai, or any movement against her but he had cut her, a sharp, clean cut across her cheek. She wiped the blood off her cheek and looked down at it, almost shocked.

It was a lesson, she guessed. A lesson to never underestimate the situation. She let out a slow breath. He wasn't going to kill her...yet.

Silence stretched between the two of them and Hinata looked at him, curiously.

" Wh-" She started and then stopped. She didn't want a repeat of what had just happened but she wanted to know...Then gathering her courage, she started once more. " Why were y-you waiting f-for me?"

His head jerked at her words and he looked up at her, an expression of confusion clear in his eyes. It was one of those few moments he displayed emotions and Hinata knew she had caught him off guard.

" I wasn't waiting for you," He said, a bit slowly. " I was just bored. I'm waiting around to die, and you're a bit of amusement for my last few breathing moments."

Hinata stared at him. " Amusement?"

Itachi looked back her, challengingly. " Yes. Amusement. That's all."

Hardly knowing what they were challenging each other about, Hinata looked away, nervously. She fingered the grass slowly and breathed. Almost forgetting about Itachi, she felt her body release all its tension as it usually did whenever she came to this spot.

" Naruto talked to me today..." She said quietly, to the atmosphere. " He talked to me..." She gripped the grass strands in her hand tightly.

" Naruto?"

Hinata sat up. She hadn't thought he had heard. " Y-Yeah..." She said quietly, hardly knowing why she was saying this. He wouldn't care..

" I-we wanted Naruto. Well, the demon inside Naruto. But ever since I gave up on all that...I hardly care anymore..." Itachi mumbled off. The effect of the atmosphere was getting to him too and he found himself voicing his thoughts just as Hinata was.

Hinata stared at him and a shiver went down her spine as he voiced Naruto's demon. The nine-tails demon that was housed inside Naruto had been announced only a few months ago, after a devastating fight where Naruto was forced to release the demon. It had changed a lot of children's views about Naruto and she knew the hatred in the town against Naruto was growing...but her love for Naruto had accepted the demon and she thought it hardly mattered..

" You hurt a-a lot of m-my friends," Hinata whispered.

Itachi looked up. Then a smirk played on his lips as he answered, " Obviously. Did you not hear the stories?"

Hinata looked up sharply. " What made y-you do it?"

Silence in the woods seemed to echo and every natural noise seemed to halt. All there was left was silence and Hinata instantly regretted her words as an almost red rage seemed to envelope Itachi.

You weren't careful, Hinata! You forgot he had murdered his own family! His own people!

You forgot...and now you're going to pay...

Itachi inched closer to Hinata, his eyes trained on hers. Hinata felt her own widen with fear and discomfort as he came so close that his nose was touching hers. His eyes bore into hers and he whispered, " Don't ask me that question ever again. You aren't ready for the answer."

His voice was low, dangerous and absolutely ridged with frostiness and a promise of death that she felt herself nod without thinking.

Then without realizing that the words were coming out of her mouth, she said, " It's hard h-having a conversation with you, without fearing that you'd k-kill me at any second."

Itachi rose his eyebrows and then, shockingly, a snicker came from him. Hinata stared as he looked at her in amusement. " That's the risks you take, dear Hyuuga for conversing with a mass murderer," He remarked, smirking in amusement.

" I a-am taking a l-lot of risks talking to you," Hinata said slowly. She looked at him and shook her head. " Didn't you say I w-was a coward? Is t-talking to y-you cowardly?"

Itachi looked at her through dark eyes and an almost genuine smile touched his features. " It isn't cowardly. But don't start thinking you've suddenly become brave. You're still cowardly. You still cry about little things. You still concentrate on the lack of attention you receive. But yes, Hinata, this isn't a weakling thing to do."

Then he launched out and Hinata almost shrieked as she rose her arms out in defence. Moments passed by and Hinata realized that he wasn't going to hit her.

He smirked. " Now THAT was cowardly."

Hinata looked at him in surprise and then acceptance as she smiled, a bit hesitantly. Then she let out a gasp of shock.

" I have to meet up with N-Naruto!" She said, breathlessly. " I a-almost forgot!"

Then with a hurried wave, she was running out of the clearing, with Itachi staring after her. Itachi shook his head. She was getting too comfortable. Forgetting that he was a dangerous person. Treating him like a normal person.

That wasn't good. She was too trusting. Other people could take advantage of that. Next time...it wouldn't just be a cut. He'd have to make sure that she knew exactly what she was doing.

Wouldn't that make her stop coming to this clearing? A voice inside of him remarked. Itachi shoved the voice a way, glaring.

He was going to die soon anyways. No need for any of this talking crap. This was just to pass the days by until the fight with Sasuke.

Whenever the time was right.

He got up and walked slowly through the clearing, heading towards the Uchiha mansion. When he reached a doorway, he realized that he had walked straight...to Naruto's apartment. Leaping back, he looked down at himself, almost shocked.

Why had he come here?

Then he heard footsteps coming towards him and in a quick motion, he was perched on the pole outside of Naruto's home, staring as Hinata, dressed in her normal gear...but without the big, brown jacket, knock on Naruto's door. He saw her wringing her hands nervously as the door opened.

And his own eyes narrowed as he saw Naruto reach out and hug her.

Leaping off the pole and into the night, he didn't take the time to realize what he was feeling or the sense of it. All he knew was that he wanted to hurt someone badly.

Whether it was Hinata or Naruto, he didn't care.

He didn't give two shits.

a/n: this is almost a chapter about those two confronting their own doubts and fears and acceptances of this...correspondance. They've hardly gotten to be friends much less lovers but they are attracted to eachother, which is what draws them back to the clearing every day. Itachi's habit of killing and violence whenever confronted with problems also shows a bit which will be displayed even more clearly in the next chapters. anyways sorry about the long wait, juss sorta stopped writin this story (i told u im a one shot sorta person!) but i have written the next chapters, so all i gotta do is edit and it'll be up shortly.