Disclaimer: DON'T OWN NARUTO... DON'T own the poem that Itachi recites in the beginning either... It's not by me...
'...text' past/thoughts/emphasis
"...text" present/dialogue
A/N: Special thanks goes to Heart for inspiring me to continue this fic...and getting me addicted to ItaSaku! Plus Selkie no Karura-Chan, LOVE 4 EVA, Hao'sAnjul, Nishtiman, ..., Filthy Mushi, pat-nosferatu, epuneyujah, Jellypops, blisblop, minigoddess, asn water, iluvanime493, AnimeSenko, Isiri, Tsuki Angel, yume-chan, silverspun, silent nox2, allyluv, pbjsandwich, mad-killer-bunnies-alert, and AnimEvivvErz!
Special thanks and dedicationgoes to Hinoto S. and Sky (God bless you too!)!
Last Secret Garden
" ...To put meaning in one's life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is torture,
Of restlessness and unclear desires.
It is a boat that longed for the sea,
And yet, I was afraid..."
" I don't think I understand, Itachi-niisan..."
The corners of his lips lifted slightly. He was somewhat amused when he examined her childish countenance that was distorted by confusion.
A large yet slender hand rose, leaving his side and was placed upon where silky pink locks sprouted from the top of her head.
" You'll understand someday." He assured her gently. " You'll understand once you bloom into maturity."
" Okay!" She quickly tossed her ignorance aside.
Two
The dim moon peeked through the grey clouds drifting aimlessly up in the midnight sky, with luminous silver rays clearly marking its line of sight.
They ran diagonally on an angle, traveling from the heaven of up above to their chosen destination down below.
Tonight, their trip would end in the bedroom of a certain Kunoichi.
There at their journey's conclusion, they melted into a puddle of soft shimmering light that swayed tenderly against the sea of blankets.
At the same exact moment, the face that had stayed hidden within the velvet darkness was then revealed when darkness shrank back gradually from the presence of light.
Her luxurious bubble gum strands was fanned out next to her on the snow colored pillow's surface. Some threads had been stuck to the sides of her face, framing it and also accentuating its femininity.
It was a peaceful view from afar, of a slumbering angel in disguise.
Yet, forceful aura radiating off her body taking the form of violent trembles had disturbed the serenity of the night.
" No!" Jade orbs snapped open as her body jerked up from the comfort of the warm mattress. Cold sweat drenched her pale face and her body, making her appear as if she had been caught within a merciless tempest.
Pant. Pant. Pant.
" Uchihas..." She mumbled. ' They must have a sadistic tendency of enjoying making people suffer...'
It had already been a full month since her fateful encounter with the Uchiha prodigy... Although he did not come to her in flesh and blood, his morbid presence had chased her to her dreams, costing her valuable sleep for countless nights.
The image of his cool stare from his ruby depths into her emerald ones was still a delicate part of her memory.
And she knew...it was time for their paths to collide again.
The light sound of approaching footsteps beat steadily against her eardrums. Once the footsteps died down a few feet behind her, she opened her mouth to speak.
" I came to ask you... Your offer... Is it still open?"
He answered without hesitation.
" It is. It always has been."
" I see." She turned, readjusting her attention from the clear Konoha waters over to the man who stood to be a whole head taller than her. " ...And I accept."
"...What made you change your mind?" He questioned, not a trace of difference was hinted in his apathetic appearance.
She smiled, unlike her usual genuine grins, this one was down to water's freezing point.
" I'm tired of running. Your voice and your image...they haunt me at night. I want them to stop."
"..."
Then it began, the bizarre relationship between the brightest medical-nin of the Hidden Leaf and an S-ranked transgressor.
When it started, she planted the seed of their new bond within a garden she kept secretly on her own, isolated from the other seeds that she had tucked away carefully in the past.
Its chance of survival was low. She wasn't willing to shower it with nourishment and affection. After all, it was all a trade for her benefits.
She didn't feel rotten for using him either.
He was criminal, a man who betrayed his village and murdered his clansmen. He was the reason to why her beloved abandoned her in the first place.
' And maybe,' she told herself, ' he is just using me to get Kyuubi from Naruto.'
Three months... They were three months into their sophisticated relationship.
It was funny... how time flies when people don't count the days.
It was all an equal trade three months earlier.
She would bloom under his cause, and in turn, he would get off her case and stop invading her dreams.
Luckily for them, no one knew. Not the most skilled ANBUs in the village, not even the Fifth Hokage herself. Everything was kept a secret.
And now, he was there again.
Not in her dreams, but outside, perched up in a tree that was closest to her bedroom window.
Glossy pink lips curved to a small smile.
Even with her eyes shut and her naked back towards him, she could feel the intensity of his stare, aiming to pierce a hole through her back.
It was a sick habit of his.
And she let him, after a few weeks of adjustments of course.
When his night-watching habit began, she was the first to be annoyed. After all, she wasn't used to being analyzed when she sleeps.
For weeks following the first, he continued his routine. And she, sometimes being to tired from work to care, allowed him.
Then, one day, after the first month, she no longer felt his inhabitancy there.
She should have been happy.
Strangely, she wasn't. Perhaps she was too used to it in the first place.
Then for the next six weeks, she had the worst case of insomnia (almost allowing her to appear like the Kazekage of the Sand).
All because of him...
Once he returned, she took him into her apartment and inquired him almost immediately.
" Where have you been?"
" Akatsuki business." Came his simple reply
She had ordered him to shed his cloud-patterned cape then. In doing so, she could perform a close-up inspection on him.
He obeyed solemnly without a word. From the observation he made of the blush that crept up her face when she healed him with her chakra, he knew the seed she planted long ago had beganto grow.
" You shouldn't be here."
" I know..."
" I still love him..."
" I know..."
" I should hate you..."
" I know..."
" I do..."
" I know..."
" ...I lied..."
There was silence.
In the blinding darkness, the shadow of a masculine figure emerged with one of a smaller built.
" I know." He whispered in her ear.
Soundlessly and unconsciously, she gave away something precious of hers that night, something that came back to her once she met him.
That precious item...
...was her heart.
Author's Crap:
This must be crappy since I haven't been writing much... The Final Exams burned me out... and then there was a load of other stuff...
For all you readers out there, I promise everything will become crystal clear when the fic is finished! Everything, including Itachi's weird behavior and OOC will be explained, promise! I just realized how hard it is to keep Itachi in character...
Okay, two more chapters to go, and I'm done with this fic... AND I SHALL CONTINUE MY ITASAKU AND NEJISAKU FANDOM! WAHAHAHAHAHA!
Oh yeah, don't forget to leave your comments and such! THANKS!