Summer is slowly creeping up on us, as it's now the end of July. I'm dreading the summer heat, it's going to make work slightly unbearable, especially if the air conditioning fails like it did last year.

It also makes me hate the fifteen-minute walk from the train station to work too. Especially if the train is late and I have to run so I'm not late too. I just turn up to work as a sweaty mess. I much prefer the colder months, if I'm perfectly honest.

Thank God I don't have work today, since today is the hottest it has ever been this year.

I'm currently sat in a quiet café, waiting for Izumi and Itachi to turn up. Izumi arranged this last minute yesterday before we finished work, saying that the three of us need to try out this new café she really likes and discovered a week ago. After she wants the three of us to go bowling, as she says it will help sell our story that Itachi and I are just friends.

Itachi strides in, five minutes before the agreed time, and sits in the chair opposite me. I blush when I realise he's not wearing a suit, but is instead wearing a nice pair of jeans and a light blue shirt. His black hair is tied back as usual.

"I have bad news, Izumi has bailed." He looks rather pissed off, probably because without Izumi here, paparazzi are going to think that we're on a date. His eyebrows are furrowed and there's a small frown on his lips.

"Oh. Did she say why?" I ask, I breathe in deeply, Itachi's very expensive aftershave filling my nostrils. My cheeks burn a little more and I look away from him and instead concentrate on the few other guests in the small room. Some of them staring intently at Itachi, probably feeling a little star struck.

"Emergency meeting with her family." He says, he pulls out his wallet from his pocket. "What do you want to drink?"

"A hot chocolate please." I pull out my purse and pull out a 500 yen note; I push it across the table towards him but he pushes it back.

"I'll pay, don't worry about it." He walks over to the counter and I reluctantly put my money away. He returns with two mugs shortly, and places one in front of me.

"Thank you very much, Uchiha-san." I smile at him, and he smiles back. My heart stutters and I feel blood rush to my cheeks. I look down at my drink and give it a stir with the teaspoon provided.

"So, how are you today?" He asks suddenly, I look up from my drink, honestly surprised at the question. I feel my eyes widen slightly.

I stare at him awkwardly as I try to think of what to say, before breaking eye contact and quickly glancing down at my drink. "I'm good, thank you, what about you?" I finally reply after several moments. I mentally kick myself for being so awkward.

"I'm good." He says and I look up at him. He takes a sip of his drink, I do the same and drink a little bit of my hot chocolate. It burns my tongue and I grimace, regretting my action. "Too hot?" He asks. I realise he noticed I burned myself. Suddenly the room is a little bit too hot for my liking.

"Yeah, just a little bit." I admit, avoiding eye contact as I feel my face heat up. My eyes flicker back to Itachi for a brief second, only to catch him staring straight at me. I look away quickly, my face heating up more. I don't want to know how red my face must be, it feels like it's on fire. I must look like a tomato. A tomato on fire.

My face cools down after several moments and my eyes flicker over to Itachi, who's taking a sip from his drink. We continue to sit in silence comfortably, not having the need to fill in every gap with idle chit chat. Thankfully.

I blow the liquid in my drink and take a sip. I flinch slightly, but not as much as before. The drink is still rather hot, but it's just about bearable.

Itachi turns around to face the window pointing to outside the café, stood outside is a small group of men with cameras hanging around their necks, their eyes peering inside and staring straight at us. My heart falls into my stomach.

Itachi lets out a deep breath and turns back to me. "We should probably get going, I don't want them to take too many pictures and get the wrong idea." I nod. More pictures won't be good at all, they'll all be going crazy with the possible story.

I can already see the headlines "Akira and Itachi on a date?!". No thank you, I don't want to seem more like a Mary Sue than I do already. Plus, I don't want the fame that's brought with a story in gossip magazines. Is it too much to ask to just be unknown?

Clearly it is.

We drink our drinks quickly, mine scalding my mouth and throat as I gulp down the contents in a rush, before fleeing the café.

"We should probably walk there; your car will attract them." I say in a hushed whisper as we leave, my eyes flick over to the photographers and they're consumed with taking pictures of us. I follow Itachi as he leads us away from them.

We enter the nearest shopping centre, and we hide in an empty shop. If we hid in a crowded one, someone might sell us out.

"Damn it, if Izumi was here we wouldn't have this problem." Itachi growls lowly, I barely catch it. My eyes widen in shock, it's unlike him to be angry. I've never seen him angry, even at work when he was having a go at someone for breaking the company's rules. He's always so calm and collected.

"It's fine, I'm sure it would have happened if she was here. The whole thing that happened is still fairly recent, people are interested and it's a good story to get quick money from." I say quietly, Itachi nods. "As long as we just seem like friends, the interest will die when they realise that there's nothing else to our relationship." My eyes scan the shelves, looking at the intricate handmade items lining them.

"True. They'll never leave me alone though." He sighs. "You don't have to stay friends with me after this all blows over, I know you don't like being in the news." My eyes widen and I turn to face him.

"I'm sure we'll figure something out." I say, I look away before I can see his expression. "I don't like the attention by the press, honestly. But you're human, just like me. You just happen to be in the public eye. I'm not going to discriminate you for being famous." My face heats up, much to my embarrassment.

"But I don't want you to be uncomfortable around me." Itachi says softly. I look at him and his eyes are looking around the shop.

I shake my head. "I couldn't be uncomfortable around you." If anything, I felt really relaxed around him. Yes, I didn't like it when paparazzi turn up and the thought that my face and name will be splattered across gossip websites and magazines makes me uncomfortable, but Itachi himself doesn't make me uncomfortable. He's very relaxing to be around, I don't quite know why. But if the price for being around him is having my face and name public, then it will be worth it. I just won't look at them, what I don't know won't hurt me. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

My eyes meet his, and he looks at me with hints of shock spread across his face. His lips twitch upwards slightly. "I'm glad."

"Do you think it's safe to head to the bowling alley?" I ask and he nods.

"Let's go." When we exit the shop, there's not a single photographer in sight, so we make our way to the bowling alley which is a ten-minute walk away.

As expected, the bowling alley is crowded, due to it being a Saturday. It's full of mainly teenagers, couples on dates and families. Once again, Itachi refuses to let me pay for my half, and pays for it all himself.

"Just to warn you, I'm really bad at this." I say honestly. He laughs quietly.

"I doubt that, everyone says they're bad." I raise my eyebrows at him.

"Are you sure about that, Uchiha-san? I honestly am bad at it, last time I went bowling was when I was in high school. I did the worst out of me and my friends."

I wasn't lying, by the end of the game it was apparent that I was telling the truth, I really am bad at bowling. I only knocked a handful of pins down throughout the game.

"You weren't lying." Itachi comments when our final scores are in. I look at him and smile.

"It doesn't matter though, I don't mind losing." I say with a shrug. "I had fun."

"I'm glad, Hanakawa-san." We make our way out of the bowling alley, and to our surprise the front is crowded with paparazzi. There's a fair few of them, so someone must have spotted Itachi inside and tipped them off. My eyebrows furrow and my hands clench into fists as lights flash in our faces.

Do people not respect people's privacy?

We quickly walk past them, my short legs barely able to keep up with Itachi's longer ones. I hear them yell stuff at us as we flee.

"Hey! Uchiha-san! Hanakawa-san! Are you two on a date?!" One yells and Itachi begins to walk faster.

I follow him urgently, willing my legs to move faster. I look over my shoulder to see we're being followed. My heart hammers in my chest persistently.

"Where are we going to go?" I ask Itachi desperately. My voice shaking with panic. Why do people want to be famous, exactly? Is this sort of thing someone's cup of tea?

"I don't know, we need to lose them before we can decide." He replies. We turn down a street full of crowds of people. People gasp when they see Itachi, but then how would they not notice him when him and a girl come rushing down the street. "We're going to head to my car, I'll drop you home."

We push through the crowds, I couldn't help but notice people pull out their phones to snap a quick picture of Itachi. Eventually, we make it onto another street and I instantly recognise it. Across the road from us is the café we were in earlier, and the car park where Itachi had parked his car.

We dive into his car and he speeds out of the car park. "I'm really sorry about today. I really wasn't expecting there to be so many paparazzi outside." Itachi says as he resumes a normal speed down the road.

"It's fine." I say, my voice is quiet. I don't want to say that I hated every minute of being chased, because I don't want Itachi to think I didn't enjoy today. I enjoyed every other aspect of it, just not running from the paparazzi.

I fidget uncomfortably, my stomach full of butterflies and my heart beating faster than usual. Why do I feel like this?

"I'd like to warn you that the pictures will be everywhere on the internet. I'm so sorry. I'll have to talk to my father later, and he'll think of something to do to distract them. But I don't think anything will help. We've already said that we're just friends." Itachi apologises again. I look over at him, and my heart skips a beat. My face heats up. I tear my eyes away from him, scared by my reaction.

"It's really fine, I'll just avoid social media and news websites for a while. It's honestly fine." I say quietly. My phone lights up on my lap and I see that I have a message from Yuki.

From Yuki: OMG! You were on a date with Itachi? Why didn't you tell me? Your faces are plastered everywhere, everyone is freaking out about it. Are you two official yet?

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. I'll have to call her later and explain. I really hope she doesn't believe the articles and get carried away with the thought of me dating Itachi.

I lock my phone and place it face down on my lap.

We sit in the car in silence, until his car begins to pull up to my apartment.

"Thank you very much, Uchiha-san." I say as the car stops. I unbuckle my seatbelt and open the car door.

"You're welcome, it's the least I could do after we were chased by paparazzi." He says politely, I smile at him and give him a wave before shutting the car door. I make my way up to my apartment and let myself in.

LNLN

"So it wasn't a date?" Yuki asks, her hands are clasped around a warm mug of tea and her legs are propped up on my sofa. My legs are propped up too.

"No, my boss, Izumi, was supposed to be there but she bailed last minute. So, it was just the two of us. It was nothing more than a friendly outing." I explain.

"Do you fancy him?" Yuki asks randomly, a mischievous glint in her eyes. She brings the mug up to her lips and takes a small sip of her drink.

"No!" I say very quickly. The word tumbles out of my mouth without any thought behind it. My face heats up and I look down at my lap. "Of course I don't, he's just my boss. I don't even know if I'd consider him a friend. He's probably only been spotted out with me to discourage the rumours. I don't think he's interested in me at all."

"Sure. You two slept together, so he must be interested in you slightly to have sex with you?" I shake my head.

"We were drunk, Yuki. I'm sure it was just a mistake." I say firmly. My heart sinks at the thought.

She sighs. "I just hope you don't end up hurt at the end."

"I won't, I don't have any feelings for him whatsoever. Once everyone forgets about me, we'll carry on with our lives like nothing happened." I say quietly. The thought of never seeing him again hurts, it's only a dull pain but it's still there. Why do I feel like this? I don't know him, I shouldn't feel this way. I can't develop feelings for him, that would be stupid of me. So incredibly stupid.

Yuki sighs again. "Okay. But if he hurts you, I'll mess his face up." She threatens. My eyes widen.

"Yuki! I won't get hurt." I say quickly. "Plus, you'll get into a lot of trouble if you hurt him. I don't want that."

"Fine. I won't beat him up."

"Don't do anything else either! No anonymously releasing false rumours about him, if it's traced back to you then you'll get into trouble!"

"Aki, don't worry. I'll only get into trouble if I'm caught." She winks at me.

"Yuki!"

She changes the conversation and we stay sat there until it's lunchtime. She leaves and I find myself alone in my apartment once more. Even Kyoko isn't here, she's outside chasing mice or playing with the other cats.

I sit down on my sofa and stare at my phone. I wonder what was written about what happened yesterday, I probably shouldn't look but my curiosity is getting the better of me.

Itachi and Akira spotted on a date?!

Yesterday the pair were spotted at a bowling alley. Many Tweeter users uploaded pictures of the pair to the social media site and then they were photographed leaving the alley later. They had also been spotted in a café earlier that day. It was just the two of them!

Some speculated that they were on a friendly outing, but due to their past we believe that it was a date! More updates to come!

I press the back button and continue scrolling through the articles, most of them are the same. I scroll back to the top of the website and refresh it. The first article on the page catches my eyes and my stomach sinks. Tears well up in my eyes.

Itachi Uchiha and Tsubaki Sou are dating!

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

I'm sorry for the delayed chapter! I tried to update early since I was staying with my boyfriend from Friday-Sunday, but I wasn't happy with the chapter. So, I spent my 3 hour train journey editing it. It's not perfect, but I can't delay it anymore.

I'll be updating this Friday!

Thank you for all the reviews! I forgot to thank you last week, so I'm doing it now. I'm sorry for the delay. I'll also reply to guest reviewers, since I can't send them a message.

Guest (chapter one): I'm glad you love it! :D

Guest (chapter two): That will be revealed at some point, I've already planned out why he's interested in her. It's not set in stone though, so I'll most likely change my mind. Thank you! I did get a good sleep eventually :D

See you next week!

- Yin