Hitomi opened her eyes. At first she was dazed, and then her brilliant eyes focused on Itachi's face.
"Good morning." He smiled, stroking her hair. Hitomi closed her eyes.
"I'm thinking I got ran over by a cart." She groaned "A big cart."
"I thought the first thing you would ask about would be if you passed or not."
"Passed what?"
"The chunnin exam!" Her eyes shot open.
"It already happened?"
"You don't remember?"
"I remember you walking me home after we went swimming." Itachi felt his heart falter, so she didn't remember… not the fight… not their first kiss. "Did I pass?"
"Yes."
"The guy must have been good, I feel awful."
"You beat him."
"I figured that much… how is he? If I won and feel this badly—"
"You killed him." He could feel Hitomi's shock. "You released your bloodline's power… it was amazing Hitomi."
"I wouldn't call killing someone amazing." Itachi felt her hand tighten in his. Hitomi began to cry, there was no tension in her face, she let the tears flow.
"At least you don't remember it. It was going to kill you, it's a good thing you killed him." He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the forehead. Hitomi looked into Itachi's eyes for the first time. Itachi couldn't hide the truth from her.
"You're different." She said, puzzling. "Stonger…" she suddenly sat up and pushed herself as far away from Itachi as she could. The heart monitor attached to her went crazy, Itachi stood up, Hitomi kept her eyes on his. "What did you do?" she asked, her voice shaking. Her eyes widened more "No Itachi… you didn't! You couldn't." She added in a whisper.
"That bloodline limit is interesting, can you really read my soul?"
"I've never used it on you."
"Yes you have, you always know when I'm lying and you know my thoughts—"
"No. I've never used it on you." The door to her room opened. Fugaku walked in. Hitomi's heart rate on the monitor suddenly dropped dramatically.
"Itachi I wanted to talk to you about what happened in the yard yesterday—"
"He was with me, that night." Hitomi said, her voice and eyes clear. Fugaku looked surprised.
"What night?"
"The night that man died."
"No one saw him come into the hospital, I've checked."
"That's because he came though the window."
"The window—" Fugaku looked from Itachi to Hitomi and then back again. "Why would he do that?"
"I didn't want anyone to know I was coming here." Itachi replied, slightly annoyed that they were talking about him like he wasn't standing right there.
"Why?" Itachi remained silent. Hitomi's eyes were still clear as she stared into Fugaku's eyes. Realization passed though Fugaku's face. "How dishonorable. I will be speaking to Hiroshi and Mikoto about this." Itachi shrugged. Fugaku left the room, Hitomi's eyes followed him, and the girls' cold stare seemed to make him go faster.
