Word Count: 350
Warnings: none really.

Theme #4. Hidden From The World

Konoha wasn't known as a cold hearted place. They tended to forgive too easily, look away too easily, and even hide important secrets that need to be told easily.

So when Uchiha Itachi was accepted back it was quite a shock to people who knew what he did. They left him alone. Thinking it was all some kind of evil plot. Yes, they left the heartless bastard alone.

One day. Many days after he became an official citizen again. Yamanaka Ino stumbled upon him. Itachi was gracefully sitting in front of the heroes gravemark. She was supposed to be visiting her deceased teacher, Asuma. The blond was supposed to stay away from Itachi. But as she walked with a purpose up to the grave mark. Ino faltered. He was crying.

"What's wrong with you?" Ino asked pointedly. She was no longer used to being kind about people in mourning.

Itachi's blood red eyes gazed up at her. They seemed to know that she was going to come. Why he didn't choose to hide. He was always hiding away from every little detail of the world. Cold and heartlessness were a mask Itachi gladly accepted.

So why did he let Ino see him? Why didn't he stay hidden?

Itachi wondered to himself, but that didn't stop him from going into action. Tenderly, as if the elder Uchiha brother might run away if she made a move, he stood. On Itachi's way up he found his arms snake around her waist.

Burrowing his face in Ino's neck Itachi didn't move any further. He felt the small blond hestitate. For what he did not know, but slowly Ino hugged him back. She didn't even know why she did it, but it felt right.

"Come home with me." Itachi stated. Ino accepted without hesitation this time.

Maybe he showed her his passions because he no longer wanted to be alone. Maybe, they rather be trapped together in Itachi's hidden world where no one could get to them. To be safe. To live free.

Everyone had a little of themselves hidden away from the world anyway.