Chapter Eleven
"Itachi?" Nakiro felt her heart skip when his onyx eyes met her red ones, his fingers sliding through her hair soothingly.
"Nani?" he questioned, she felt her cheeks go warm at the look in his eyes.
"Ano...I-I got you something." she murmured, trying not to stumble over her words.
She could feel her heart thumping against her ribs when he smiled softly, his fingers sliding through her hair again. She sighed contently when his arm tightened around her middle, pulling her to lean back against his chest, she couldn't think of a more perfect moment to give him her gift.
"You didn't have to get me anything Nakiro."
"Demo...I wanted to." she argued, turning to observe him.
He had the smallest smile on his lips as she looked at him, the usual gentle expression on his face but there was something else, a certain light in his eyes that showed how truly surprised he was that she'd gotten something for him. Was it that surprising? He was her boyfriend after all and not just that, they'd been best friends for years, she wanted him to know how special he was to her. Even though they hadn't labeled themselves as boyfriend and girlfriend, she knew that's what they were and she felt the need to show her devotion as often as she could.
"It isn't much." she began, pulling the small box from her pocket. "I thought you'd like it though."
He nodded slightly, taking hold of the box and moved his other arm around her, his chin resting on her shoulder from behind her as he lifted the lid. She bit down on her lip nervously, praying that he would like it as he removed the necklace from the box. It was a simple looking thing, she knew Itachi wasn't one for fancy items, it had three silver rings with red gems inside them but she'd had the necklace custom made for him; she just hoped he would like it.
"Nakiro." She moved her eyes from her shoes, finding his onyx ones. "Arigato. It's beautiful." he murmured, cupping her cheek.
"You really like it?" she pressed, a smile came to his lips.
"I love it." he assured. "I'll never take it off." She smiled brightly at his words and placed a kiss into his palm, unable to hide her blush. "Will you do me the honor of putting it on?" She nodded in agreement and took the necklace from his fingers, hanging it around his neck, adjusting it just slightly.
"There, it looks great on you." she stated, he smiled warmly at her as he set the box aside.
"You didn't have to get me this." he murmured, his fingers sliding down her cheek.
"I wanted to." she repeated. "You mean the world to me."
"And you to me."
She felt her heart skip when he gently pressed his lips to hers, moving against hers in a soft and loving kiss. Her eyes slipped shut as she moved her lips back against his, her arm going around his neck and his tightening slightly around her middle to pull her closer. She could feel her breath caught in her lungs, overwhelmed in the best way from all the emotions she was feeling in the moment, she never wanted to be without him. She smiled into the kiss, her cheeks going warm again when they parted for air, his forehead leaned down against hers as he held her to him.
"Nakiro." She opened her eyes at the sound of her name, staring longingly into his eyes, she loved when he said her name.
"I love you." she murmured, unable to keep the words in.
She could see his eyes lighten at the confession, the warmth she adored about him shining through clear as day. However, she couldn't help but notice a distant sorrow in his gaze, as though it saddened him to a point. She blinked curiously, moving her hand to his face and cupping his cheek.
"Is something wrong?" she asked, beginning to grow worried.
"Nothing at all my love." he whispered, placing a soft kiss to her forehead. She nodded hesitantly, almost jumping out of her skin when she heard a voice.
"What's with all the secrecy you two?"
It was Shisui, he was approaching them slowly with a wide grin on his face. She could've cursed when she realized she hadn't even felt his chakra, she'd been too caught in the moment and he'd snuck up on them. Wait...she was herself...she didn't have time to shift. She felt panic rise in her chest at the thought, turning her eyes to Itachi, concern written all over her face.
"It's alright." he soothed. "We can trust him with this."
She nodded a little, feeling reassured by his tone, she knew that Itachi wouldn't let her be put in jeopardy. Shisui would be the only other person in the village to see her true form, the second person ever to see her for who she was, she believed Itachi's trust was well placed. She knew Itachi looked at Shisui as an older brother, his closest friend other than her.
"I've been waiting ages for you guys to be together." he joked, taking a seat across from them on the grass.
"We've been keeping it to ourselves." Itachi stated, running a hand over her arm soothingly.
"Keeping it secret is more like it." Shisui laughed, Nakiro felt a smile come to her lips. "Don't want the clans trying to push a wedding too soon."
"Oka-san would flip." Nakiro giggled, placing a kiss to Itachi's cheek. "She adores Itachi."
"So I'm the first to know then, I'm honored." the elder teased. She rolled her eyes, playing with a strand of dark turquoise as Itachi's hand continued to run over her arm. "I guess I won't tell anyone." he joked. "However, maybe just Sasuke."
"Sasuke has a big mouth." Nakiro groaned, Itachi chuckled softly.
"He enjoys being involved." he said, sounding amused.
"Not to mention he's got a crush on your girlfriend." Shisui added, sounding just as amused. She groaned again, her cheeks burning when both boys began laughing, Itachi's much softer than Shisui's rowdy one.
"Not funny." she grumbled, Itachi squeezed her once in a small hug.
"Well if you didn't always go for the cute looks, maybe he wouldn't be crushing on you." Shisui laughed, she pursed her lips playfully.
"Am I supposed to look ugly then?" she teased. "I don't think Itachi would want to be seen with me."
"Every form you take is lovely." he assured, a kiss was planted into her hair.
"Haven't seen this one before." Shisui commented, she nodded hesitantly.
'If Itachi can trust him, so can I.'
"Feel special then." she began, a small smile came to her lips. "This is my real one."
Nakiro smiled sadly at the distant memory, she missed Shisui, he'd always been her closest friend besides Itachi. She'd been more than just shocked when she heard that news that he'd died from an apparent suicide. She didn't believe it in the slightest, even when it had happened she'd been suspicious of the circumstances. She believed that someone had murdered him and staged it as a suicide, however, she couldn't begin to think of anyone that would want him dead nor could she prove it. Shisui had been well liked by everyone in the village, he was a talented shinobi and the loss of him from Konoha was tragic, she just wished she knew who did it.
Itachi hadn't been the same after his death, he'd withdrawn and become distant from everyone, including her to a point. She'd done everything she could to get him to open up to her and talk with her about his feelings, it hadn't helped in the slightest, he'd just withdrawn even more because of her efforts. In a way, she blamed herself for his disappearance, for everything that had happened. She felt responsible for Itachi's actions, had she been able to do more then maybe that dreaded night would've never happened...the massacre.
"Kiro-chan." The teenage girl blinked dumbly, snapping out of her thoughts and turned her eyes to her partner, brown meeting blue. "I feel like we have our work cut out for us hm." he commented, turning his visible eye to his lap.
She bit down on her lip when she noticed he was reading over the file on Orochimaru, knowing exactly what he was referring to since she'd read over it herself a good many times already, and he was right. After absorbing all the information herself, she knew when they did finally find the Sannin, that they would have to be prepared for anything, his arsenal of attacks and defenses were never ending. He was quite the skilled shinobi and just one mess up on their part could turn the odds in his favor, they would have to make sure to stay on their toes when that time came.
"Fuck hm." Deidara grunted, tossing the file towards one of the tables in the room. "We're fucked, there's seven other members we don't know shit about. How are we going to pull this off hm?"
Nakiro quickly moved up from her window seat and crossed the room to the bed, taking a seat next to the blonde after grabbing her book. She flipped it open to a clean page and turned her eyes to his face, she felt a twinge in her heart when she saw the look on his face. She could easily see how determined he was to help her but he looked...worried, was he worrying that she would get hurt? She moved her hand to his arm, squeezing it gently to grab his attention. His blue eye locked with her chocolate brown ones, his hand went to her cheek and she leaned into his touch, trying to show him how much his concern meant to her.
"I don't know how we're going to do this hm." he admitted. She turned her eyes to her book, writing.
There's no rush Dei, we just have to be smart about this. The smartest thing we could do is try to gather information on the rest of the members of this group, that way when we finally face Orochimaru, we won't be caught off guard. They've been seen traveling in up to three man squads. All we have to do is find out who he travels with most regularly and we can make a plan from there.
Deidara nodded slightly as he read over her words, his thumb caressing her cheek every few seconds before he turned his attention to her.
"I know, you're right hm." he sighed, scooting closer to her. "I just...I don't want anything to happen to you. What if he tries to take you hm?"
I won't let him take me alive, that's not an option for me.
"You can't think like that." he disagreed, a tight frown sitting on his lips. "I won't let it come to that hm."
Deidara, if this doesn't work out then I need you to promise me that you won't let him get ahold of my body. I need you to completely destroy me, so the secrets of my people will die with me.
"No." he argued.
She moved her eyes to his visible one at the change in tone, his voice sounded like it'd cracked slightly, it sounded as though he were upset. The look in that sky blue confirmed it, the usual happiness and confidence he carried was nowhere to be found in his gaze.
"You can't just expect me to go along with that hm. I couldn't...I won't kill you Nakiro."
I'm not asking you to, I'll take care of that. I just need you to destroy my body.
"How could you ask me to do that?" he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "You're my partner hm!"
I know but I need you to promise me you'll do this for me, I can't trust anyone else, because YOU are my partner.
"You're not going to have to kill yourself hm." he argued, shaking his head. "I won't let it come to that."
We don't know what's going to happen when we face him.
"I'll blow him to bits hm."
She felt her spirit drop when she saw the grief written all over his face, the concern he had for her visible in his eye...was that a tear? She blinked dumbly, watching the tear slide down the visible side of his face and hesitantly moved her hand to his face, thumbing it away.
'He really does care about me.'
She could've smiled at that, a warm feeling moving through her chest, a feeling she had almost forgotten existed; her heart hadn't felt this warm since Itachi. Her cheeks went pink when he moved his arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace, burying his nose in her hair. An inaudible sigh of content passed her lips as she leaned into the hug, resting her cheek against his shoulder as she wrapped her arms back around him.
"He's not going to take you from me." he murmured.
She closed her eyes at the words, relaxing into his arms, the warm feeling filling her. She hadn't felt this close to someone in so long, having someone that cared for her as much as Deidara did, it was a foreign feeling but it was so nice, those were the moments that she most cherished. In this moment, she knew how much she meant to him, how much he meant to her. She never thought she'd care for anyone just as much as she cared for Itachi but it was right before her, she could see it clear as day. She only wished, that she could tell Deidara how important he was to her, actually speak those words to him and once she had her voice back, she'd be able to tell him without relying on her book. She opened her eyes when Deidara moved out of the embrace, watching curiously as he placed his hands on her shoulders.
"Nakiro." She tilted her head to the side slightly, studying his expression. He was carrying a look of seriousness but underneath that, she could see that same worry from before. "It's not going to happen but if it will put your mind at ease, I'll promise to do what you asked hm. Demo, it won't happen." he said sternly, she nodded once.
'Arigato Dei.'
"I don't want to talk about this again hm." he told her. "I don't like talking about the possibility of losing you."
She nodded in agreement, she didn't want to discuss it any further, she didn't like the idea of losing her life because of the Sannin, especially when she still had to find Itachi. Not only that though, she didn't like the idea of not being with Deidara anymore, he was the first true friend she'd had since Shisui and Itachi. After losing both of them, she didn't think she'd ever have another person that close to her, until Deidara came along. She felt a blush rise to her cheeks at the thought, blinking dumbly when Deidara chuckled and swept her bangs out of her eyes, cursing silently to herself; she'd shifted again without realizing it.
"Nani?" he chortled. "Didn't mean to do that hm?" She felt her cheeks growing hotter and shook her head vigorously, Deidara chuckled again and handed her forgotten book to her. "Let's get out for a bit and away from this stuff for now, find something fun to do hm." he suggested. She nodded in agreement and turned to her book, writing.
Would you like to try and find a contract to take on? We should probably leave Taki soon, it'd be a good idea to make some extra money.
"Or we could do something else?" he teased, she blinked dumbly. "They're having some type of festival tonight, would you like to go hm?"
'A festival? With music and dancing? Stalls and decorations and food? That sounds amazing.'
A wide smile came to her lips at the thought and she nodded her head in agreement, blushing darkly when she saw the grin on Deidara's face. He moved up from the bed and grabbed some money from the nightstand, looking back at her over his shoulder as he head for the door.
"Go ahead and get ready then hm." he advised, his grin widening. "I've got a few things to do beforehand." She nodded, feeling slightly confused that he was leaving without telling her what he had to do but moved up from the bed, going through her bag for a change of clothes. "Oh and Kiro-chan?" She looked up from her bag, finding his face as he stepped out into the hall. "Put on something pretty for me." She blinked dumbly as the door shut behind him, another blush rising to her cheeks.
'Is this a...date?'
Author's Note: The cover photo of the story is the closest example of what Nakiro's true form is supposed to look like, aside from the eye color being different in the photo. Thought I'd try to give some reference considering I have no artistic talent. And Boom! Another chapter down! I know Itachi's necklace was a gift from his parents but I wanted to switch it up. I figured it'd be a nice little addition in the story and can serve as the purpose for him never taking it off. I love their sweet moments together!