REQUESTED ONESHOT: Itachi and Hikari, Vaporshipping
For anon reviewer Kaneki Ken: College AU in which Hikari is attending a university that Itachi is a graduate student at.
-O-O-O-O-
(Hikari's POV)
"Crap, crap, crap," Hikari whispered to herself as she dashed across campus. "I have to make it or else I'm doomed!"
Skidding around the corner, she nearly ran into a couple who were standing rather close together. "What the fu—"
"Sorry!" she yelled back over her shoulder.
Hikari ran on, pace quickening as she spotted the doors of her destination down the hall. "Please, please, please let me make it!"
The automatic doors of the campus library slid open, and she skidded to a stop, throwing her arms up in a V for victory. "Safe!"
The librarian glared at her. "Miss Uzumaki, do not shout in my library! And what are you doing here right before closing time?"
"Sorry, Ami. I have to check out a book for my intro to philosophy class tomorrow," Hikari said, speedwalking to the philosophy section. Ami bristled at the informal address, grumbling about overtime, but Hikari ignored her, skimming the bookshelves for the book she needed. "Descartes," she muttered, walking down the aisle while searching. When she found it, she sighed in exasperation.
"Of course," she exclaimed, flinging her arms up in the air. "Of course it's on a shelf I can't reach!"
She eyed the shelf with annoyance. The showdown had begun.
"Alright, you," Hikari declared, pointing to the book. "You may be at a shelf that's over seven feet from the ground, and I may be exactly five feet, but I will get you even if it kills me." She looked around for a stool, but found none. "Stupid bookshelf being too high up without even a stupid stool to help me reach it because of my stupid height."
She stared at the shelf with contemplation. Hikari tried stepping on the second shelf from the bottom to climb up, but the entire bookcase wobbled, so she tsked and got down.
"Ami, do you have a ladder?" she called.
"Why would I have a ladder? Hurry up and check out your book so I can leave. And don't call me so familiarly!"
Groaning, Hikari pouted at the bookshelf. Suddenly, a hand reached out above her and grabbed the book.
Her book.
"Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes," a smooth voice said. "Intro to Philosophy, then?"
She pivoted on her foot and blinked when she came face to face with a t-shirt. Great, she thought, a tall person. I don't even come up to this guy's shoulders.
"Yes, and I'd appreciate it if you gave it to me," she said through gritted teeth, raising her eyes to get a look at his face.
And Kami, she marveled. What a gorgeous face that is. But more importantly: what hair products does he use?
She didn't realize that she'd said her thoughts out loud until he replied. "It's a secret," he said, running a hand through a sleek, black ponytail. "And thank you. You have a very nice face yourself." He smiled slightly at her, beginning to walk away.
Her face heated up in an indignant blush, but it wasn't until the stranger checked out the book and left that she realized he'd checked out her book. The one she needed for class tomorrow.
Swearing, she tore out of the library, much to Ami's ire, and raced after the retreating (and very well defined) back of the stranger. "Hey!"
He spun smoothly, raising an amused eyebrow at her. "Yes?"
"That book," Hikari said, pointing at the book in his hands, "I was clearly going to check it out. What you did was a total dick move. Give it to me." She attempted to snatch it, but he easily avoided her.
"That's not very polite. For all you know, I could need it too. First come, first serve, right?"
She snorted. "Yeah, because you're definitely taking an intro to philosophy class. You're not even a freshman." She paused at her own words, unsure. "At least, you don't look like a freshman."
"My brother's the freshman. I'm a second year graduate student," he told her. "I'm taking this for some light reading."
Her jaw dropped. Light reading? He considered Descartes to be light reading?
"But," he continued, "if you really need it, come find me." He handed her a slip of paper, which she took, still dumbfounded that he'd described Descartes as light reading. "You only have until tomorrow, I'm assuming. Make up your mind quickly. Oh, and also, there are no other copies available of this edition."
As he walked away, Hikari glanced at the slip he handed her, and saw the words "Uchiha Itachi" followed by several digits.
"That jerk! What kind of person carries their contact info on paper to hand out anyways?"
-O-O-O-O-
"Naruto," Hikari said, bursting into his dorm room, "I'm a goner. Professor Kakashi is going to kill me tomorrow, I just ran across half of campus to check out a book, and someone takes the book right before I'm about to so I end up with no book anyways."
"Whoa, whoa, Kari, slow down," Naruto said, raising his hands as if calming a harried animal. "Tell me what happened."
She described the entire encounter in great detail, bemoaning the dilemma of somehow procuring a copy of the book while pacing back and forth.
"He even had the audacity to basically tell me to call him! What a jerk!" She looked expectantly at Naruto, who hastened to reply.
"Wow, you're right, he really is a jerk. But Hikari," he said, a sly grin slowly appearing, "is he a good-looking jerk?"
She slapped his head. "That doesn't matter," she raged, blushing furiously.
Naruto cackled. "So he is good-looking!"
"It really doesn't matter," a new voice cut in. "She has no tact or respect regarding relationships."
In the bunk above Naruto's, a black-haired boy rose up on an elbow from his previous position of laying down.
"Who are you?" Hikari asked bluntly.
"The person you almost ran into earlier," he returned coldly.
Oh. "I said sorry," she shot back.
"I was trying to confess to the girl I like. Sue me for being upset that the mood was ruined."
"Oh."
Naruto looked back and forth between the two. When the silence stretched long enough, he stood up, clapping his hands. "Aaaalright," he said, stretching out the word, "you guys are obviously not happy with each other, so I'll make peace."
Both Hikari and the other male snorted at the same time. Naruto twitched, but persevered.
"Hikari, this is Sasuke, my roommate. Sasuke, this is Hikari, my twin sister. Please get along."
"Hn."
"As long as it's not the other jerk I met today, I can probably get along with anyone," she declared. "He's a total sadist. He finds joy in others' distress."
"Sounds like someone I know," Sasuke muttered, laying back down, "like my brother—"
"Uchiha Itachi is the biggest asshole I've ever met in my eighteen years of life," she seethed. "And it's not even fair how pretty his hair is."
Sasuke jolted upright, smacking his head on the ceiling. "You met my brother?"
She gave him a strange look. "You're related to that prick?"
"Unfortunately."
"Oh. That makes sense."
"The hell do you mean by tha—"
"Wait," Naruto interrupted. "You," he pointed at Hikari, "met his," he pointed at Sasuke, "brother, who gave you," he pointed at her again, "his number, and you also think he's hot."
"That doesn't matter," she hissed venomously.
"Well, I want to know if you're going to bang—"
Sasuke groaned. "I don't need to know this."
"Yeah, but she's not your sister. I need to know."
"The other party in question is my brother, in case you forgot," Sasuke replied drily. "So I really don't need or want to know."
"Hikari!" Naruto cried out. "Just tell me if you want to make little redheaded children with Itachi!"
She stared at him for several moments, unable to speak or form some kind of expression. Finally, she left the dorm, slamming the door behind her to muffle Naruto's cries.
On a second thought, she poked her head back into the dorm.
"Sasuke, I need to ask you something."
-O-O-O-O-
(Itachi's POV)
"You're in an unusually good mood," Kisame commented as Itachi entered their dorm with a miniscule spring in his step. In terms of his body language, it was practically skipping.
"I went to the library," he replied, offering no other explanation. Itachi sat down at his desk, placing the book— her book— in the drawer in his nightstand. Kisame raised an eyebrow, but Itachi ignored him in favor of languidly stretching like a cat. As he stretched, he thought back on his encounter with the redhead.
He'd been doing some last minute research on the library's computers because his laptop had inexplicably died when the doors had opened— With a bang, as Deidara would say, he dryly thought— and a very small redhead had dashed in, throwing her arms up with triumph. He'd quirked a smile at her flippant disregard for the librarian, and had returned to his research.
All had grown quiet for several minutes, and he'd finished with what he was researching. Itachi had logged off and had been in the midst of leaving when he'd come across the redhead in the philosophy section, which was between the exit and the computer area. She was pointing at a particular book on a shelf high above her and declaring war on the bookshelf. He had watched with amusement as she attempted to climb the shelf, only to be foiled when the entire bookshelf threatened to fall over.
He'd found her adorable, a bit like an angry kitten, and he was intrigued by her reactions. She was just so genuine. So unlike anything his great family had shown him. Thus, he'd stepped forward and claimed her book, resulting in him being complimented on his appearance (unintentionally, he was sure, if her flushed cheeks and slight shock indicated anything), then chased down and insulted. And he'd also given her his number.
Kisame eyed him warily with a knowing grimace. "You found another victim to mess around with, didn't you?"
Itachi smirked with satisfaction. "No," he refuted. "I found a toy." A knock sounded on their door, interrupting whatever Kisame was going to say next (most likely to reprimand him to leave his victim alone). He got up and opened the door to see the redhead scowling at him.
"You," she hissed.
"Me," he returned, pleasantly surprised. "You found my dorm room somehow. Were you that desperate to see me again?"
She, of course, flushed in a manner that Itachi found both startlingly familiar and endearing.
Perhaps he was a little too obsessed.
"No. Your brother told me where your dorm was. Give me the book," she spat, hand extended as if asking for candy. Instead of giving her the book, he placed his hand in hers and dragged her into the room, drawing a squeak from her.
Really, she's too predictable. And amusing.
"So you've met Sasuke. I assume he was rude to you," Itachi said, sitting down on his bed and pulling her onto it as well. She snatched her hand away— rather, he let her snatch her hand away— and scooted to the corner of the bed farthest from him.
"Not as rude as you're being right now," she shot back. She looked about the room, no doubt searching for the book, but she froze once her eyes landed on Kisame. Kisame rolled his eyes at what he knew was coming next.
"You're blue," she blurted.
"Really? I didn't know that," Kisame drawled. His sarcastic comment seemed to completely fly over her head as she stared at him for several more seconds. Finally, she spoke.
"Huh. Okay." She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Uchiha-san, give me my book."
"Please, call me Itachi." Itachi gave her what he knew was a winning smile. Internally, he raised his eyebrows at what had been the calmest reaction to Kisame's coloring.
"If I do, will you give me the book?" she pleaded. She pouted at him, eyes wide.
"No." Her eyes instantly began glowering at him. "I will if you give me your name."
"Uzumaki Hikari," she snapped, rolling her eyes. "Give."
He got the book out of the nightstand and handed it over to her, stifling his laughter when she swiped it immediately and positively ran to the door. "Goodbye, Uzumaki Hikari," he called after her retreating back.
Itachi shut the door and returned to his bed. He raised his eyebrows at Kisame.
"Feisty," Kisame said, replying to his unspoken question. "But she's nice. You should keep her around."
"Perhaps I will," Itachi mused, turning to his research papers. Then, he realized that he'd made a mistake. A rare occasion. He had no way to contact her, since she'd arrived at his dorm instead of calling him and therefore leaving a phone number to call back. Since the library book was checked out under his name, all overdue fees would be billed to him, which normally wouldn't be a problem, but he'd used the QuickCheck option (which made wait lists easier to handle) which required books to be returned twenty-four hours later, since he knew that he actually wasn't going to read it.
Itachi smiled. He knew what he had to do, and he delighted in it. He picked up his cellphone, dialing a number he'd memorized at first glance, and grinned when he heard the irritated voice of the recipient.
"Hello, Sasuke," he greeted. "I need a favor."
-O-O-O-O-
(Hikari's POV)
It was three days after what she mentally dubbed as "the incident" that Naruto came to the dorm she shared with Hyuuga Hinata, leading an aggravated Sasuke.
"There you are," Sasuke grumbled, pushing Naruto onto her bed. Hikari's eyebrows shot up as Hinata began blushing at the sight of her twin. She turned her attention to Sasuke.
"What?"
"This is all your fault. I should never have given you directions to Itachi's room," he rambled, pacing back and forth while pulling his hair. "It's always Sasuke this, Sasuke that, Sasuke tell your little redheaded friend, Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke."
"Uchiha," she cut in. "You're making no sense right now."
He glared at her and shoved his phone into her face.
She gave him a questioning look but was dumbfounded as she saw what was on the screen. It was the call log, and as she scrolled down with her index finger, she saw only one name.
Uchiha Itachi.
"So your jerk of a brother called you forty-seven times. What of it?"
"What do you mean, 'what of it'? It's irritating! Driving me out of my mind! Give him your number, I can't deal with this. You have his number, right? Call him." Sasuke left in a huff, stalking out of her room.
In the ensuing silence, Naruto coughed. "So, Hikari, who is this?" he asked, motioning towards Hinata. Hinata's face turned even more red.
"Hyuuga Hinata," Hikari said. "Hinata, this is my twin, Naruto."
"P-pleased to meet you!"
Hikari left her dorm room—and Hinata's struggles—to call the number she'd been given a few days ago. She reasoned that not even Sasuke deserved to be bothered by Uchiha Itachi for so long.
"Hello?"
"Hello?" she said. "Is this Uchiha Itachi?"
"Yes. Who is this?"
His voice, she noted, was deeper over the phone. "Uzumaki Hikari."
There was silence on the other end, then: "Ah, the riveting redhead. Yes, I've been meaning to contact you somehow, but you ended up contacting me first. Couldn't resist my charms?"
She rolled her eyes. "What charms? I just called because Sasuke was suffering too much. Why'd you want to contact me?"
"Well, it turns out that the book I checked out—the book you took, you know—was done via QuickCheck, which means that it's overdue. Overdue fees are rather nasty."
The blood drained from her face. Overdue fees were horrible. Twenty dollars a day. Two days overdue.
Forty dollars.
"Don't worry, I can pay all the fees, but you owe me. And I'd appreciate it if you returned the book today for me."
"Sorry," she blurted out. "I didn't know. If I knew I wouldn't have had it for so long, I'll go return it right now. Oh my gosh, is there anything I can do to make it up to you? I can pay you back!"
"Oh, no worries when it comes to money. It's fine."
"I need to repay you somehow," she insisted.
"Well, if you really want to… how about a kiss?"
She stiffened. "What? Are you out of your mind?" she shrieked.
"To be fair, I was going to suggest a date, but I figured you would prefer the kiss. Unless, of course, you want to spend hours on a date with me instead of giving me a short kiss, but—"
"Okay, okay!" She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I'll give you your kiss."
She cut the call.
"Shit."
-O-O-O-O-
She paused in front of the dorm room door. His dorm room door. Itachi's.
This felt weird. She was giving a kiss as payment. And yeah, it was just a kiss, but it was her body. But she didn't really have the money to make up the debt.
And he really was attractive, even if he was impossible.
Tentatively, Hikari raised her hand and knocked. A few seconds later, the door opened, revealing an Uchiha Itachi with glasses.
Oh. Well. Crap. He's hot.
"Uzumaki Hikari," he said, voice amused, as he stepped back, inviting her in. "I take it you returned the book, then?"
"Yes," she muttered. She stood in the middle of his room, unsure of what to do. His blue-skinned roommate was missing.
"Sit," Itachi said, waving her towards his bed. She raised an eyebrow.
"I thought I was here to kiss you."
He chuckled. "Do you think that I'm going to kiss someone I barely know?" He sat down beside her. "Tell me about yourself."
She let out a long-suffering sigh. "Well, I'm a freshman, like I said before. I'm majoring in government."
"Oh? Do you plan on becoming President?" he teased. She didn't reply. "Oh," he said. "Wow."
Hikari looked up and saw something akin to admiration in his eyes. She flushed and looked back down. "What about you?" she asked in a rush.
He sat back. "I'm getting my MBA." Then, he sighed softly. "I'm expected to inherit my father's corporation."
She tilted her head. "You don't sound like you want to."
Itachi quirked the side of his mouth into a smile. "That's because I don't."
Despite her initial dislike of him, she felt her heart breaking for him. She knew the feeling of forcing oneself to live up to expectations very well. "I'm sorry," she offered.
"Don't be," he said. "It's not your fault. Although, it would make me feel better—"
She found herself on her back, Itachi hovering over her.
"—if a pretty woman were to comfort me in my time of need."
Hikari rolled her eyes. "You're insufferable," she told him, and brought his head down for a kiss.
His kiss left her breathless. His lips were gentle, coaxing, yet demanding, slanting across hers in a firm rhythm and pressure that left her lightheaded. She slowly slid a hand into his hair, raking her nails delicately against his head, and he traced her lower lip with his tongue in reply. She gasped, pulling away, chest heaving.
"Sorry," she said. "I just—I…"
His eyes watched hers, intent.
"Kiss me again," she whispered, voice hoarse. She licked her lips. "Please."
He did.
-O-O-O-O-
Hikari walked into Naruto's dorm and sat on his bed.
"So?" Naruto asked with glee. "How did it go?"
She fiddled with her sleeves. "I have a date with him tomorrow."
Sasuke groaned.
-O-O-O-O-
A/N: Well. I'll just leave this here then.
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