Itachi held his fond gaze to Hikari, resting his chin on his hand.
She was still blushing. Stealing a glance every now and then only to see that look growing more and more expressive and affectionate as the seconds passed by.
Hikari covered her face as her blush intensified. That was Itachi's cue to wrap his arms around her from the back.
Hikari jumped at the sudden contact.
"What's with you all of a sudden?" She squealed.
"Nothing." He rested his head on her shoulder. Humming quietly to himself.
"Then what's going on? Are you alright?"
He made a sound of agreement, closing his eyes.
"Hikari?" He whispered.
"Yes?"
"Are you uncomfortable when I touch you?" Was there no better way to word it?
No, no there wasn't.
"What?"
He squeezed her harder to him. "Does this make you uncomfortable?"
Hikari closed her eyes. Did it?
"I- I don't think so."
"Are you sure?"
"I don't know. Look if it's you I don't mind." Right?
"That's not what I'm asking. Hikari I need you to-"
"I know! Alright? I know what your asking. I just don't know how to answer that."
He frowned, loosening his hold on her to let her go, but she stopped him by putting her hand on his forearm.
"Hikari." His tone was firm but gentle. He loosened his hold on her more.
"It's not that, Itachi please it's not that. It's not you."
He reluctantly hugged her again, her back meeting his chest this time.
Closer.
"It doesn't make me uncomfortable, this, you. It doesn't."
"You'll tell me if it does?"
She nodded hesitantly.
"Hikari."
"Okay, I will, I promise."
That seemed to do it because he snuggled back into her neck.
"How about this?"
Hikari smiled. "Itachi, you're fine."
"Good, I got you a little something."
"What is it?"
"It's a surprise." He opened his eyes smiling.
"I think, it can wait."
"Nope." He let her go, getting up.
Hikari whined childishly.
"Oh come on, you'll love it."
Hikari grumbled. "For your sake I hope I do."
Itachi tossed her a box.
Hikari barely caught it, fumbling with it for a bit until she had a secure hold of it.
She hugged it close to her chest, still tense from the slight leap of her heartbeat.
"A-a heads up would- would've been nice." She barely stuttered out.
"Open it!"
Hikari nodded absentmindedly, opening the rectangular white box.
"Is this... Chocolate!" She squealed. "From Kumo too!"
Itachi smiled at that and walked back sitting beside her.
"Oh my God this is so good! I knew Kumo chocolate is the best! We should try making that sometime!"
"That would be nice."
"How did you even get this? Was your mission in Kumo?"
"No, but I might've pulled a few strings."
Hikari frowned. "To get chocolate?"
He nodded.
"That seems extra."
"Well you-" he flicked her forehead again. "- were feeling so down lately. I thought this would cheer you up."
"And right you were!" She popped another one into her mouth.
Itachi tried taking one but was met with a gentle yet warning slap on his hand.
"No, mine." Hikari pulled the box away protectively.
Itachi made a face at her.
"I bought that! Give it here!" He lunged at her.
"Ah no wait! Itachi!" In her frenzy to dodge the whole box fell out of her hand and she ended up tackled to the floor.
They both laughed at their position. Itachi holding her down playfully while the chuckled at their childish antics.
"Gah! You ruined my chocolate."
"That's what you care about?" He asked getting off.
"Itachi-kun, it's chocolate!"
"Fair enough." He laughed. "Relax, I got us plenty."
"What are you doing?" Hikari asked one evening, eyeing the board between Sasori and Itachi.
"Chess."
Hikari made a face. "What's that?"
The both looked up at her in surprise.
"Why are you looking at me like it's common knowledge?"
They eyed each other then looked back to her again.
"Do you know shogi?" Sasori asked
Hikari blanked.
"Well that answers that. We'll explain it to you when we're done alright?"
Hikari nodded and kept an observant eye on the game.
"So it's a strategic game." Itachi explained.
"Okay."
"I think we can teach it to you if you want." Sasori suggested.
Hikari scrunched up her face in doubt. "I don't think that would be such a good idea."
"Why not?"
Hikari never thought herself to be strategic. She was more impulsive than anything. Also she was sort of... slow.
"I don't think I'm cut out for these sort of games so.."
Sasori gave her a stink eye, then sat her down forcefully.
"Sit down, we'll teach you."
"Gaahhh! This just isn't happening." Hikari gripped her hair in frustration, even pulling at it.
Itachi felt if she tugged any harder she would definitely have bald patches.
"Alright, alright. What don't you understand?"
"I-uh! I"
"Very informative Hikari," Sasori said sarcastically before getting up.
"Wait, where- where are you going?"
"We both-" he gestured to himself and her. "-need a drink."
"But it's still so early."
"It's not. Not really." Itachi shrugged.
"I told you this was a bad idea. You probably think I'm stupid." She hugged her knees to her chest.
"No, you're just not cut out for this. It's fine, Hikari you can't be a genius at everything."
"You know when this is coming from you it seems even more humiliating so-"
She was cut off by his laughter. She blushed a dark shade of red. Why did she even say that out loud?
"Maybe if I wasn't so fucking... Slow! And dumb I'd have gotten it by now."
Itachi could see she was genuinely distressed by this.
She was being harder on herself than usual. Like they weren't her words.
"Hikari, I didn't mean it like that. Please don't take this the wrong way."
She nodded still looking at the ground.
Her eyes crossed as a bright pink piece of candy made it's way into her line of sight.
The huge lollipop was offered to her by a smiling Itachi.
She begrudgingly took the lollipop from him. Grumbling on about how he knew her too well.
"You look like a twelve year old." Sasori sat down next to her.
"I feel like one." She shrugged.
Yeah the lollipop made her feel better.
"Don't you look happy?" Sasori said sitting beside her on the couch.
"I'm just thinking about something."
"Try not to think too hard, we don't want you to overwork your brain."
"Gee thanks. You could try being a little nicer, Old man."
"Old man? why you..." He put his knuckles to her head, then started rubbing them into her scalp.
"Ah! Ow no no stop, stop!"
"Make me."
"Sasori!"
"Apologize!"
"I'm not apologizing for telling the truth! So you can bite- OW!"
"You sure you wanna finish that sentence?"
"Okay, okay I'm sorry!"
He let her go. "You better be."
"You know for an old man you have a strong grip."
"That's it, you better hope I don't catch you!"
"Now wait we can talk about this." She backed away when he held up three fingers.
"One."
Oh shit.
"Two."
Abort mission, abort, Sasori was pissed off.
"Three."
She bolted away with him hot on her heels.
"Hey, Hikari have you seen- Oh Sasori perfect-" Kisame was cut off by them both running past him. "You know something I'm not even going to ask." He continued on his way.
"I don't even want to know."
"Kazekage?"
"It's about time we commence our harvest." Pain said.
"Yes we'll that's nice and all, but what does it have to do with me?"
"You will accompany Sasori and Deidara on their mission."
"Now wait hold on! I-"
"Hikari." Sasori warned.
"Since when do you send us on three man missions?!"
"I've been doing that for a long time."
Well it was true but...
Hikari wanted no part in that.
Jinchurikis die when the tailed beasts are extracted from them.
She'd be killing someone slowly, painfully.
She wasn't one for torture. Hadn't these people suffered enough already?
"You start tomorrow, dismissed."
"I never ag-"
"Leave."
Sasori gave her a solemn look dragging her away by the bicep gently.
"What's gotten you all worked up?"
"I, well..."
Itachi patted the spot beside him.
Hikari took a deep breath.
"That's it someone please carry me."
Hikari collapsed on the sand drenched in sweat.
"We have two more days to go you can't expect us to carry you all the way there!"
"Both of you shut up."
"Sasori, no fair you're shielded from the sun and the heat in that big ass puppet of yours. I bet you have some sort of air conditioning in there!"
"It's called being prepared."
All jokes aside Hikari did look like she was in terrible shape.
She took her top off a long time ago, only wearing her fishnets at the moment.
She even took her boots off, and had Deidara make her a pair of clay sandals. Her hair was sticking to her face. She tied it up in a bun but that didn't help.
Now she believed she was about have a heat stroke.
"Help meee!"
"Stop complaining!" Sasori heaved her to her feet.
"I never even agreed to this shit. Me in a desert what the fuck was he thinking?"
"Hikari, I swear."
Hikari shot him a wary look. "Do what you want, can't be worse than this."
"I'll poison you."
"Be my guest."
Sasori face palmed.
"Can't you like build me one of those?"
Sasori let out a scream of frustration that made Deidara laugh.
"HIKARI!"
"We're here!" Deidara exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Oh thank God I thought I was going to die."
"You looked just about to," Sasori said in sympathy.
"Lemme, lemme rest here for a while."
"Come on Hikari we've got a mission."
"Ah! Alright fine! If I faint I blame you!"
"Right, right. I'll pamper you when we get back, okay?" Sasori promised.
"I'm holding you on that."
"Sure you are."
"Okay, off you go." Deidara let her down gently, careful not to hurt her sunburnt skin.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it." He had fun giving her that piggyback ride. "So this is where the people Orochimaru manipulated are."
Hikari flinched at the sound of that name.
It didn't go unnoticed, but nobody said anything.
"For some reason he leaked our information and turned into a traitor."
Hikari hugged herself. She was glad she wasn't recruited when he was still in the Akatsuki.
"We don't have a choice anyway, I wouldn't be able to recognize him after he used that justsu."
Please change the subject. Please change the subje-
"Say, um Deidara?"
"Yeah?"
"Is, is just one bag enough?"
"Oh? Yeah! Since all of my jutsus are so artistic I brought my favourite no.18!"
"Be careful, our opponent is a Jinchuriki," Sasori warned.
"The one tailed beast, huh." Hikari looked ahead.
"Let's go." Sasori ushered them both forward.
Great, more desert.
"Captain Yuura!"
"Don't worry it'll be over soon."
And over soon it was.
"So you really remember."
"Of course I do, Sasori-sama."
"Well that's nice, otherwise I would've used my jutsu."
"Please don't." Hikari turned to Deidara.
"I won't. Anyway! Here we go!"
The sound of chewing always threw Hikari off, but it was fine.
It was fine.
"Sasori, your husband should watch too."
Hikari snickered.
She could only imagine the look Sasori was giving them both.
"We attack from above."
Hikari watched in fascination as the clay bird grew ten times it's original size.
Deidara got up on it last after Hikari and Sasori.
With that they were off.
"See? Artistic."
Hikari watched the landscape under her.
"Careful, don't fall off." Sasori held her top to stabilize her.
"It's so pretty!"
Sasori's puppet's arm ruffled her hair.
Hikari smiled, a blush coating her face.
"Stop." She pushed his hands off gently.
That earned her a smack on the head, knocking her off balance.
Hikari made a startled noise as she slid off the large clay bird.
Sasori had fast thinking, saving her from certain death the only way he could think of at the moment.
He attached his chakra threads to her back, and limbs, securing her, watching as she swung around in the wind.
"You okay down there?" Deidara asked never taking his eyes off the road.
"I- I think so."
She felt a slight tug as Sasori dragged her back up.
"I'm not sure if I should thank you for saving me or push you off myself."
Deidara took a sharp turn.
Hikari held Sasori's cloak tightly.
"Guess that answers that." Sasori patted her head.
"You'll pay for this when we're done with this mission."
Hikari watched the stars, they looked so pretty.
She was fascinated by them every time she saw them.
The cloudy skies of Amegakure and the misty weather of Kirigakure never gave her the opportunity to see the stars as bright as they were right now. If she ever saw them at all.
With Sasori securing her with his Chakra threads in case Deidara decided to swivel sharply all of a sudden.
"You look comfy."
"I've never seen the starts this bright before," she whispered.
"What?! No way!" Deidara's obnoxiously loud voice rang through her ear.
"How much longer?"
"You know the village my dude, not me."
"My dude?"
Hikari laughed at that.
"And oh look three sky guards! And the artistic landscape of this place isn't so bad. Destroying it will be so much fun!"
She watched as three blobs dropped from Deidara's hands.
"No wait I wanted to see!"
"I'll show you later."
Hikari grumbled.
"Art is an... EXPLOSION!"
Just as he said that an explosion was heard from below them.
Hikari whistled. This was the first time she saw Deidara in action.
"Not bad."
"Not bad?! It was amazing!" Deidara whined childishly.
"Be grateful I complimented you at all, asshole."
"Hm." He landed quietly. "Infiltration successful."
They looked up to see, a kid?
Seriously? A fifteen year-old?!
Hikari barely had time to react as sand came to attack her.
She was grateful they were at night, but there was a huge disadvantage.
They were in a desert and sand was never ending.
She leaned out of the way.
"Mangetsu!"
"Leave it to me."
The jutsu sucked a lot of chakra out of her so she had to make it fast, considering she still had a ton to do.
Water flowed through Mangetsu's shaft as she swung.
Fight sand with water. Objective: get to the Kazekage.
"I wonder how you found us out?" Deidara leaped back in the air.
"There's no bird of that kind that lives in the desert."
"Well that saved us the trouble of searching for you." Deidra shrugged nonchalantly.
Why, why, why was she fighting a fifteen year-old?
Why did she have to end his life so early?
In her conflict Hikari was hit in the stomach by a blast of sand almost knocking her off the tower.
"Hikari!"
"I'm alright! Focus!" She held tightly until an explosion had her losing her grip.
Geographic advantage, damn you to hell.
Hikari panicked, only one jutsu came to her mind.
"Water style: water prison jutsu."
Hikari enveloped herself in her own water, landing painfully on the ground. She released the jutsu, coughing up a little water that she accidentally inhaled in her panic.
She didn't get to though because the incoming sand hand squeezed it out of her soon enough.
"Shit."
Another explosion caused by Deidara rang through her ears.
Damnit she couldn't get close.
She was whipped in the air as the hand clutching her retracted placing her directly in front of the Kazekage.
"Hikari now!"
"I know."
She whipped her head to look him in the eye.
His eyes widened as a ringing in his ear made him drop her then himself.
"Hikari!"
"Shut up!"
Hikari gasped waking up in a dry sandy place. Coughing up sand from her mouth.
"Great, more sand."
Something sharp prickled at her throat. She looked up to see the red haired kid glaring at her.
"How about you put that down?"
"I don't think so."
"I'm only trying to help-" she squealed when he pressed harder drawing blood.
"Listen, listen I-" heavy footsteps sounded behind her as she looked up at her offender.
A raccoon.
"H-hi. What's your name?" She really tried to be friendly with all the tailed beasts because Isobu was so nice to her.
"Oh what do we have here? Little Gaara and an intruder."
"Uh- I'm sorry for intruding?" She flinched when the sharp sand-sword pushed further into her neck. She didn't like his voice it was so menacing.
"Look- look I'm no going to do any-ow!"
"Why are you here?"
"I-I can't exactly explain when you have me at sword point."
"I'm not taking any chances."
"Listen man, I really don't have anything on me to actually do you any harm. Okay I'm just here to talk honest. Besides, you're two and I'm one, how much worse can it get for me?"
Gaara reluctantly retracted the sand back.
Hikari sighed. "I'm Hikari."
"Why are you here."
"Right, right I'm gonna cut to the chase."
Gaara looked at her suspiciously.
"Come on you can't make things like this up."
"Oh and you're here to warn us, are you?"
Hikari shuddered when Shuukaku spoke.
"Actually I just helped them capture you, well for now. I'm really sorry about that."
"I see! A double agent are you, tell me why should we trust you?"
"I- you shouldn't honestly I'd be surprised if you did."
"Well how about we kill you right now? If you die here you die everywhere right? What do you say Gaara?"
"N-no." Hikari's head whipped to him. His face panicked and stepping away.
"Oh come on! You can do it, you did it before didn't you? Come on Gaara!"
"No."
"Do it."
"No."
"Do it, do it, do it."
"No, no, no!" He clutched at his head.
Oh no.
"Hey asshole! Shut up!" She pointed at him. She was reminded somehow of how she behaved when Yagura was prompting her to kill someone herself. She shook her head, now wasn't the time.
"Oh? Brave one aren't you? Weak puny human."
"Weak puny human?!" Hikari sputtered. "I'll have you know I took on Isobu with my chakra sealed and my two legs broken, I can take you on ass!"
A scream took her back to the boy.
Oh God, this scene looked familiar.
"Gaara! Oh shit, Gaara!" She pulled him by the sleeves towards her.
Screaming and crying.
"God, Gaara!" She held him protectively close to her.
She glared up at Shuukau her eyes turning red.
"You bitch! I'm not helping you out anymore!"
He was still crying.
"Hey, hey it's okay. It's okay. Gaara, please it's okay."
He didn't care that she was a threat, comfort was comfort. He twisted her top in his hold.
No more killing.
No more.
Hikari cradled his red head. God that hair reminded her of Sasori.
"I promise I'll help you out okay? You just have to trust me." She coaxed him gently.
He nodded.
He nodded despite the fact that all of his instincts told him not to.
"Please you think that will do any good?"
Gaara stiffened in her hold. Hikari looked at him.
"I'm getting us out of here."
"Oh no you don't."
Hikari looked up in surprise at the incoming tail.
Just as it was about to hit them, they were gone.
"She's not waking up." Deidara looked back at Hikari sleeping behind him.
"Give her some time Deidara, this is very draining for her body," He muttered to no one in particular, trying to reassure himself.
"This was a terrible idea, she's already drained as it is." Deidara complained. "Come on Hika-"
He was cut off by a gasp. "Hikari."
She jumped at the sound of his voice. Whimpering at any sudden movement.
"Hey, hey, it's okay. You're safe." Deidara attempted to calm her down.
She nodded.
"Deidara, I need water, please."
"Sir, yes sir." He tossed her a bottle.
Hikari really appreciated it. She was parched.
"Thank you."
"What's gotten you all worked up?"
Hikari looked at Deidara's back as he spoke.
"Ah! Your arm!"
"Yeah! Apparently he wasn't completely knocked out, somehow he was able to keep fighting until some point he just looked like he was crying."
Wait so up till that point he was still fighting and was able to threaten her in there? It's a miracle she survived.
"So, what's with you?"
"I- well I was attacked in there. The tailed beast isn't so friendly."
"What did you expect? Him to sing you a lullaby?!" Deidara asked.
"Excuse you! I happen to be a very friendly person!"
"You are a friendly person, but a tailed beast isn't!"
"I was trying to-"
"Gaah whatever! We need to get to Sasori."
"Right."
A/N: Hi! So I know this has been said multiple times already, and you're probably sick of people saying this, but please make sure you stay at home, I know it can get boring and suffocating, that's why I'll try my best to up my game and write more to entertain you guys and pass time. However I have exams in two weeks on the 30th of April and I won't be done until the 17th of May, so I might not be able to keep my promise very well during these days. I will try to update and write as much as I can, but I can't make any promises. Please stay safe, you keeping your family friends and loved ones safe as well by staying inside. As always thank you so much for reading, reviews do make me happy and feel free to PM me I'll answer as soon as I see it.