Day 5
Hinata was spending too much time in her room. She knew it. Itachi probably knew it, too, in the way he seemed to just know things. She was focusing on turning her room into something closer to her old home, though it seemed to have the effect of making her homesick. For a few days at least she would wear the yukata she had already unpacked; they were light for the weather.
She dug into a box of her decor. There were, of course, a few wall hangings and an old pressed flower arrangement that Neji had had framed for her birthday a few years ago. Framed pictures of family and friends.
There was one, at the very bottom, of her team and Naruto's team at the barbecue restaurant celebrating. Naruto had an arm around Sasuke, and an arm around herself. He was probably in the middle of a big belly-laugh. Sasuke was the only person out of the eight who wasn't grinning or laughing in the shot, actually. Well. There was a sake bottle obscuring Kakashi's face, so perhaps he wasn't either. She smiled.
A few months after that photo was taken, her father had approached her with the news of the engagement. And now it was near the end of August, a few months later, and she still felt the sting of having to break the news to Naruto, and then everyone else.
There was a tapping at her door.
She jumped. She knew it was Itachi, but she checked with Byakugan anyway.
"You're avoiding me," he said, flatly, just loud enough to filter through to the other side.
She put the photograph down and sidled up to the door. There was the soft scrape of fabric and a thump. He was probably kneeling, then. She opened her mouth. Nothing came out.
"Do I frighten you?"
"N-no."
It wasn't just a lie; it was a terrible lie. She sank to her knees and kept her eyes downcast.
Instead of calling the lie, he said, "Avoiding each other...isn't going to make this easier."
He paused, as if waiting for a response.
"I...don't know what you were told about me." He cleared his throat. "But-"
"They said you murdered someone." It wasn't meant to be an accusation, but that's how it tumbled out.
"What?"
"I-I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't-They said...they said you killed-"
"Don't apologize," he snapped.
Quietly, like a mantra, he added, "Shisui killed himself."
The way he said it, it was like he had borne witness to it or found the body. She had her fingers splayed on the bottom edge of one of the door panels, unsure. There was nothing she could respond with. She bit her lip.
"Sorry for bothering you," he finally said, voice raspy. "I'll be downstairs."
