Itachi woke up the next day to the sound of the library doors being opened. He pulled himself off of the desk, his neck protesting the movement, and leaned back in his chair. Looking down, he realized he must have fallen asleep in the middle of writing something that was now wrinkled beyond belief.
"You spent the night in here, huh?" Karin called, walking over to where he was sitting, her footsteps echoing.
He shot her a quick glare and began pressing the creases out of the paper he'd slept on, already wondering if it'd take too long to simply copy it onto a clean sheet now that he had an abundance of them. Absentmindedly he rubbed at his cheek, mindful of the few spots of smeared ink.
"I didn't trust that I would be able to find my way back to my room," he replied, not mentioning that it had, of course, allowed him to make his way through several stacks of books before he had fallen asleep copying out another table of contents.
She stopped a few feet back, stiffening and letting out an irritated sigh. "I wouldn't do that. I'm not trying to make this any harder for you."
There were too few words as it was, and none were capable of explaining just how little he believed that.
"Itachi. I don't want us to be enemies."
"Yet you keep me here."
She bit her lip, obviously finding a hard way to argue against that. "You're probably hungry, aren't you?"
Ignoring his empty stomach, Itachi shook his head and stood, cringing when his shifting position made his shoulders crack.
"You haven't eaten since yesterday," Karin noted.
Her input was only a frustrating reminder that she had the ability to know everything that he did.
Disregarding Karin entirely in the hope she'd lose interest, he began to look around the library to see if there might be a washroom of sorts. Now felt like a particularly good time to find a bath and some place where he might brush his teeth.
"You should come eat," Karin suggested, and he would have loved to if only he could do so alone.
Itachi looked down at the table and began sorting his papers, putting a book on top of the one he'd slept on in the hopes it would straighten the wrinkles out.
Karin's angry footsteps pounded over to where he was. "Hey! Stop ignoring me!"
She was standing directly behind him, one of her hands on the table next to him, the other urgently tugging at his shirt sleeve. "You're actually the worst, do you know that?"
Itachi backed up, holding his arm out so she was forced to step back to accommodate him. "You are the one choosing to keep me here."
Karin gave him a flat look and rolled her eyes. "Can we just get past that? Look, you're stuck here. You're not going anywhere. Fucking deal with it already so we can move on already."
"I am going to deal with it, though not in the manner you suggest."
Karin looked over his stack of books and frowned.
"What if I offered another bargain?" she asked, finally making room so he could walk away from her poor attempt at cornering him, and over to the short end of the table. Her eyes followed him as he walked, tracking him like a cat. "We can take this slow; I can be patient."
He cocked an eyebrow at that, trying to think of her ever being patient.
"Don't stare at me like that! I'm plenty patient with your moody ass. Listen, if you wanna hide away in here all alone pissing your time away that's fine by me; all I ask in return is that you come to dinner with me each night."
He almost refused out of habit but it wasn't a terrible bargain, if he was being honest. Assuming, of course, there wasn't a catch to it.
His lack of an outright refusal must have only given Karin hope because she was edging closer to him now, her hand sliding along the grain of the table. "You might as well take it. You'll have to come out of here for food eventually, and I'll just find you when you do." She waited a moment, then added, "At least this way I don't have to worry about you starving to death."
Itachi sighed. "I'm tired of you and your bargains."
Karin narrowed her eyes. "Trust me, I'm getting equally tired of you."
"You have earned every bit of dislike."
She frowned again, but didn't let that deter her. "Then let me make this deal with you, okay? You can be in here as much as you want, whenever you want. I just ask that you eat dinner with me." She looked away from him, just over his shoulders, and he noticed her hand fidgeting, the joints in her fingers popping. "You… you don't even have to talk to me, okay? Just come to dinner."
"You have some kind of trick—"
Her eyes snapped back over to his, hard and angry. "Can you stop with that? Maybe I just want some fucking company, have you considered that? You're terrible company, by the way, but I'm just as stuck with you as you are with me."
"I am not your company; I am your prisoner."
Karin gave him a petulant glare and he was glad to return it. She leaned in closer. "The others didn't treat me like this. You're not even giving me a chance."
"I owe you nothing. There is nothing between us that has not already been bargained for."
Karin paused, the tension evaporating from her face, and then gave Itachi a smile he absolutely did not like. "Well, fine. If that's what you want, I can be in here all day," she said, reaching over and sifting through some of the papers he'd left scattered, somewhat messily, around the table. "You've probably got some entertaining thoughts, huh?"
Bending over the table, he tried to snatch his notes out of her reach, away from her eyes.
"Stop that," he commanded when they grabbed a single sheet at the same time.
She gave him a dangerous grin and leaned onto the table, the extra weight making it impossible for him to tug the paper away without ripping it in half. "What are you gonna do about it, Itachi?"
"You're acting childish," he snapped, unusually annoyed. He could be having a bath or breakfast right now and every second he was not doing either of those was infinitely more irritating. "You need to leave."
"Make me stop, then," Karin said, leaning closer, fluttering her eyelashes at him. Itachi cursed and moved away, not taking any risks by allowing her to get so close.
She gave him a smile that told him she knew exactly what she'd been doing, and slid the paper back towards him. "Dinner. Just once a day. Nothing else but eating a meal in the dining room together."
Itachi gathered his papers together, including the one she'd just passed to him, and shuffled them into a neat stack. "In return you will not disrupt me while I am here."
"Absolutely," Karin replied, her smile so unbelievably smug he was beginning to regret dealing with her out of spite alone. He sighed in defeat, running his hand through his hair and only able to think of how badly he wanted to wash it, how even a few days were enough to turn it into an unbelievably greasy mess.
"In addition," he added, "you will allow me to move freely about the house. Wherever I want to go, without needing to constantly rearrange the hallways."
"I think I can work with that." Belatedly, he realized she was probably pleased he was bothering to interact with her at all, no matter how much he had asked for.
Even so, he'd at least bought himself some peace. "Leave, then. The matter is settled," he said, and she hesitated a moment before shrugging and walking away with a wave.
"See you at dinner, 'tachi."
He scowled again and looked down at his notes, unable to remember precisely where he'd left off last night in his indexing.
Itachi opened the book in front of him, skipping past the table of contents and going straight into the main text, and rubbed at his eyes when the words began to blur in front of him. Pulling out his chair, he sat down and leaned closer but still the words weren't any clearer, even when he blinked and squinted and turned to the next page, rubbing at his eyes until he saw colored sparks behind them.
Nothing; a mess of letters he couldn't make out..
When he reached for another book, he heard the doors of the library open again, and turned to see Karin had returned.
She cut him off before he could object. "Don't look at me like that; you skipped dinner yesterday so I can be here as much as I want until dinner today."
He took the plate from her outstretched hands and gave it a cautious once-over but it seemed to be a perfectly normal plate of fruit; he poked a strawberry with his finger and was doubly relieved that they were also fruits he recognized.
"Just don't expect that to happen again, okay?" Karin added, crossing her arms defensively. "I'm not just going to deliver food when you don't keep your promises."
She turned to go but her reappearance was surprisingly convenient. "Karin," he started, self-consciously pulling his hair over his shoulder, "Is there a place where I might wash?"
Karin nodded, her mouth at a slant, and he heard the hallways grinding again. "Down the hall, to your right."
And then she was gone.
Itachi did his best to make the rest of his day profitable. He had, to his relief, been able to find an assortment of soaps and towels in the washroom and, best of all, found several plain black sets of shirts and pants for him to use while the clothes he'd worn there dried.
They fit just as well as anything his mother had ever tailored and, just this once, he felt somewhat grateful for Karin's persistent need to meddle in his affairs.
For his own sanity he avoided wondering exactly how the measurements had been so accurate.
Itachi spent a little more time trying to decipher the books he'd selected to no avail. His vision did not seem to be any different when he looked elsewhere but he assumed it was only a consequence of his exhaustion and lack of proper rest.
Eventually it grew dark, and he had a bargain to uphold.
The entrance to the dining hall was hard to miss; at the end of the newest hallway, there were a pair of giant doors with curly fruits and rounded cornucopias carved into them, the wood a dark walnut, handles a polished gold. Despite their daunting size, they slid open with barely a sound when he pushed on them.
There, in the center of the room, was Karin, standing by an unnecessarily long table, only two spots set that he could see. She turned towards him and again he was struck by how excessive she was; her gown was longer, more modest than it'd been the other night, but just as flamboyant, a flowery mess of dark green lace and seed pearls.
Long golden chains hung from her ears, tied off with more pearls. She was even wearing gloves; gods, he could only imagine how bored she really had to be to look forward to what would inevitably be a disappointment. Especially, he realized, since she had only supplied him with casual clothing.
Not that he would have worn anything else anyway.
He sighed and began to walk over. Go in, get out, get back to the library. He could make it through this.
"Well, well, you actually came," Karin said, looking him up, actually winking at him.
Gods above, her nerve. "That was the bargain."
Ignoring his snark, Karin just laughed and tucked her hair behind her ear, motioning towards the table. "Well, come sit down then… I wasn't sure what you would want so, um, yeah."
Itachi looked further into the dining room and began to regret committing himself to such a spectacle. Unlike every other room he'd been in, it was dark, lit only by candelabras on the table, no windows or wall dressings. It was, he realized with a sigh, quite the intimate look.
"Are we the only ones eating in here…?" he asked, his eyes darting around the room for something, anything he could use to distract her.
"Just us!" she replied, moving over to where he was and tucking her arm into his, pulling him in further. Caught off guard, he went along until they actually got to the table, where he tugged his arm out of her grip.
"Don't touch me," he snapped, crossing his arms to prevent her from grabbing him again.
Still undeterred, Karin pulled out her own chair and sat down, motioning for him to follow. With a grimace, he sat down and looked at the meal she'd chosen, some kind of poultry, a mixture of vegetables, and roasted potatoes.
Itachi looked over and caught her eyes, watching him, probably gauging his reaction.
His best strategy was to end this as fast as possible, so he unfolded his napkin (because, above all, his mother had always taught him proper manners) and began to cut into the meat. All he had to do was eat dinner; he'd promised her nothing else.
Across the table, he could hear Karin shifting but not yet eating. After a minute she let out an exaggerated sigh. "So…" and he foolishly looked up to see what she was going to say. "You said you weren't a soldier…"
Karin's face was innocent enough, almost glowing in the candlelight, but he still couldn't help but read something sinister in her questions, something conniving.
Itachi did not know exactly what she wanted or why it mattered but she had done nothing to earn such trust. He thought of his years as a ranger, how much he'd hated fighting and killing and how relieved he'd been when he had finally walked away from it all. "No. I am not a soldier."
"Well, what's the deal with the muscles, then? And all that gear you brought with you?"
"I was prepared for the worst," he said, giving her a pointed look. "Rightfully so."
Karin gave him an unimpressed glance before rolling her eyes. "Doesn't look very scholarly to me, is all."
He gripped his fork tighter, but not did rise to her bait. "It was something I did a long, long time ago."
"So you were a soldier." She hummed thoughtfully and reached for her fork, finally beginning to eat. "I always wanted to marry a soldier. Someone strong, heroic."
"I was a ranger. They are different."
"I'd be interested in hearing about it, then."
"I do not wish to speak of it."
"Why not?"
"It's none of your business." Unable to hold himself back, he added, "Your view of heroism is childish as well." There was never anything heroic in what he had done, and he took a slight satisfaction in knowing that, whatever she'd wanted, she'd almost certainly chosen wrong.
She snorted, and again he couldn't help but marvel at how utterly bizarre his situation was. Had she been looking for someone like him, or was it only a coincidence that he and Sasuke had been her captives? Why was she so damned concerned with getting married?
With a shake of his head, Itachi looked down and put his thinking to better use.
After dinner, he would return to his room, get some proper sleep, and then return to his reading after his eyes were properly rested. There was, he reasoned, no real purpose to keeping to a regular schedule when he no longer needed to worry about carefully rationing his supplies. He still had a few stacks of books to get through, and once he had finished indexing he could start taking proper notes on her actual contents.
He heard a clank as Karin set down her silverware. "Is there something on your mind, Itachi?"
He looked up as she was adjusting her glasses, her eyes searching his face for a reaction he would not give her. "Nothing at all."
"Are you getting anywhere with your research?" There was a cocky undertone to her voice he did not appreciate.
"My research is none of your business."
Karin raised an eyebrow and picked up her fork again, confidently spearing one of the small potatoes on her plate.
"You seem frustrated," she commented before taking a bite.
"Only a minor setback."
Karin laughed through her nose as she finished chewing, then took a sip of whatever it was she was drinking. "What, like not being able to read any of it?"
He jerked his head up, only to see she was still staring at him, suddenly sharp, analytical.
Karin quirked an eyebrow. "Don't give me that look; I can't read them either."
Itachi bit back the first couple responses that came to mind and settled for the least venomous. "I can't imagine being unable to read your own books. Seems irresponsible."
Karin was surprisingly calm, unusually still as she watched him. She shook her head. "They're technically not my books, after all. Anyway, it's just those ones. Pretty convenient, huh?"
"It's anything but."
"For us, maybe." She looked back down at her plate, knocking potatoes around with her fork before speaking up again. "The other ones should work just fine for you. It'll be just the magic ones that you can't read."
When he did not respond to that, Karin gave a thoughtful hum. "I'd be interested if you did find yourself able to read any of the protected ones, though," she continued, giving him a particularly meaningful look as she finally took another bite.
She didn't outright say it, but he could tell she wanted him to press her further; she had put the slightest emphasis on protected, begging the question of why and how they would be.
He was not in the mood for her games, and so he refused to play along.
Karin spoke up again. "So now that you can't do your research…"
"I'll find other research I can do."
"I could help you, you know. With whatever you're researching. I've got good handwriting; I'd be quiet."
"Our bargain was that you would stay out of the library. I do not need any help, least of all yours."
Karin gave a slow nod and continued pushing food around her plate, apparently having anticipated such a response.
Having finally eaten enough, he stood to leave and Karin stood with him, her earrings twinkling in the candlelight.
"Itachi. Before you go…" and he was already bracing himself for the inevitable, cringing in anticipation, "What do you think about getting married? To me?"
He pushed his chair back in place with perhaps a little too much force, the floor squeaking, and sighed again. "Stop asking me that. My answer is no and will always be no."
Karin set her shoulders and stood firm. "I'm not going to stop."
And, to his discomfort, she did not: while he managed to avoid her during the day by staying in the library, eventually he would have to come down to eat and she would be in the kitchen waiting for him, sitting on the counter or waiting in the doorway, cool as could be.
"It's about time you came down," she'd say, annoyed, and it might have been petty but he began to challenge that, to see how long he could make her wait each day before he would need to get something to eat, unable to take enough with him to last more than a day.
He ignored her as much as he was able but it did him no good; she'd follow him right to the library doors, pressing him to spend time with her, to talk with her.
"I'm here when you get bored," she'd say, "My offer is always open."
Every night she would approach him after dinner, leaning over the table to look him in the eye and then she would ask him to marry her. And, every night, he would politely (though less so every night) decline and then run back to the library where he would study until his eyes grew heavy and the candles burned too low.
Except, of course, this was not like his home and it was not like the University. If he burned through candles there were always more candles, ones of every shape and size imaginable. They were painfully decorative but they burned as well as any other candle and there were always more.
Likewise, there were always more books. Itachi might have been unable to read the magical ones but the others, as Karin had said, were perfectly legible. He could continue to follow the threads of his thesis, and tomes began to pile higher on his desk, books on monasticism and the history of war, spiraling into calligraphy, economic systems, the works of mystic poets.
And then there were her books. She'd responded to his ongoing campaign of silence against her by carrying books with her, reading when she grew tired of annoying him.
Out of curiosity he had picked one up from where she'd left it on the counter, wondering if whatever she was studying might give him some clues as to how he might escape their bargain.
Upon realizing it was some trashy romance novel (The Bad Boy's Guilt, honestly she had no taste) he quickly dropped it and did not again look into her choice of books.
He tracked time on a makeshift calendar he drew, and the days went by fast enough that eventually his first week and first month passed and his manuscript grew, evolved, was revised and reworked and only limited by the information at his disposal. Which was to say, not at all.
Itachi began to regret spending so much of his at the University time deciding on his topic instead of just choosing one and working from there, had started to wonder if he wouldn't have been finished with it by now and onto greater projects.
There was a lot, he realized, that he had neglected.
Shisui included. If Itachi ever escaped… he would need to apologize to Shisui for how he had acted, for playing the fool and for not properly acknowledging Shisui's feelings. And, perhaps, his own.
It depended, of course, on whether Shisui hadn't already moved on.
Shisui's last memory of them together would be of Itachi, paralyzed with fear and unwilling to leave in order to save the most important person in his life. And before that, of Itachi avoiding him and hiding rather than speak openly about their feelings.
It occurred to him that he had no idea what Sasuke would have told Shisui of what had happened, but knew Sasuke at least would try to save his big brother. He imagined Karin had measures in place to ensure it would never happen, and so he he began to wonder how long they'd look, if it'd be weeks or months or if they'd already stopped. If, somehow, Karin was aware of them looking for him and just did not mention it.
He… he could not honestly say how long he thought they would search for him. He had been away at the University for so long but…
Itachi had tried to keep his friends and family at a distance but now he wondered if it had really worked.
Author's Note:
Me: Wow, I love this ship!
Also me: Only ever writes about them arguing
(it won't last forever)
Next chapter we get to meet a new character!
Thanks to everyone who has been leaving comments! The notifications always warm my heart and it's very, very nice to read that people are enjoying my incredibly niche AU and rarepair.