Day 8
"Here."
Hinata nearly jumped up from the sofa. She snapped the book she was reading shut and almost bumped her nose into Itachi's outstretched fist. He pulled it back. He seemed almost...sheepish, the way he was looking intently to his left.
She held out an open palm and into it fell a squarish silver key.
"It's for a training ground Sasuke and I used to visit."
"Oh…" She looked up at him. "Um...Thank you?"
"It's nothing." He pushed his hands deep into his pockets. "I can show you where it is. Before I leave in the morning."
"A-already?"
"...Yeah."
Of course, they must have had an assignment specifically for him in ANBU. Or did he request a specific mission? She looked at the key again. It was difficult to suss out his motivations in gifting such a thing to her.
Was it a clan politics sort of move? A way to gain her favor and secure an heir in that manner? The icy claw of panic started to make its way up her chest as the implications clicked into place.
She turned the key over in her fingers. It was well used, but well cared for. She had a feeling the training area it unlocked would be much the same. A pang of guilt dropped down onto her head. It was just a key, either way.
"Oh," she said, after a slightly too long period of silence.
"I don't know how long it'll be," he said. "I can't-ah."
He pushed the key back into her palm. This time, she did startle. She jerked her eyes up and found herself staring into the Sharingan. He closed her fingers over it.
"Keep it."
Note: If you want to reread the original it's still up in full on my AO3 - same username as here! I might actually just put up the revision separately because AO3 is such a huge pain to use.
-Val
