So far things are good, but that doesn't mean my guard is lowered. I wanted to get this out in time for the holiday, but that day was busy lol. I even made dinner myself (with some help) for the family. Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! :D

Composition by Brunuhville.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Love is Pain

This room was all hers, and Temari and Shikamaru had theirs while Choji was given a smaller space in theirs for himself. She really was impressed with the use of shoji and brush scenic and battle paintings from the Heian era. Some bamboo plants in the corners? Calming and serene. Overhead: glass globes for electricity. And not to mention, the closet doors were sliding.

And Itachi had given her the two surviving portraits which had some burns at the corners rather than all over the best parts she prided and put her heart and soul into.

Staring at them as she lay in bed that night, she found herself lost in thought - mostly for him than her old life. She could hear the talking on the other side of the screen walls without understanding what people were saying, but knew it had to do with each other besides what was coming up that meant the end of this town and perhaps the country, well to the whole world.

She thought back to the conversation she and Temari had over her feelings about Itachi.

"You and him - if I had to say yes, it'd be based on those stories and movies we knew since we were kids. But this is real life, so that means something much harder than what you feel. It could end three ways for you, the first two combined being that one of you dies. But in the long-term run if it has to work out, he'd have to make you like him, if you get my drift."

Hanaru closed her eyes. She had thought this through with enough time. If she was lying dying, she wanted to live, and Itachi would have to change her. Because she knew she loved him, on a different level than loving her family and friends - whom she didn't want to leave either - and didn't want to live her life wondering why she didn't do more with her life, or more with as long as she could live.

Based on everything she'd heard, being a vampire meant you had to hide your true self, and you couldn't eat certain foods you loved anymore, much less drinks. She wasn't sure about that, though would it really be a small sacrifice in her mind compared to when it would really happen?

That also meant she couldn't go out in the sunlight, at least not yet. Though she got to thinking something else: what if someday, someone could study vampire genetics and see that they eat and live like normal humans again? Without having to fear death from the sun and persecution? All of that she would love to see happen.

Oh, worry about that after what's more important. And that's the man you're far too deeply connected to. The one in his chambers, all alone, and waiting for me to go to him at anytime.

That was it: she would go to him, waste no time, and say it to his face.

Hanaru was up and out of her room, rushing down the hallways and corridors, ignoring calls from her friends who saw her leave, not stopping until she reached his chambers, the dim lights behind her being her way back after her mission - and she opened the door without knocking.

She should have knocked, she realized too late, for she heard her music being played, and it was none other than When the Night Falls - and Itachi was laying stretched out on the bed within the coffin...stark naked. Oi, naked but his thigh covering genitalia with skill.

Hanaru couldn't have been more shocked, bloody hot and red to the cheeks and her entire body when her eyes locked with his, and his voice shook the walls when he saw her and leaped out of bed but pulled a dark sheet around his hips.

"For the love of Kami, Hanaru!"

She felt herself falling forward, the door closing behind her on its own - only to end up being swept off the ground by a pair of pale, strong arms and being held by a powerful body carved from ice.

Now, this could be considered epic romance because it was happening, and now she found herself laying down across HIS bed - she could now smell his scent which was a normal aroma of sandalwood, leather and maybe an unidentified fruit, akin to the Forbidden Apple - and looking up at him while every part of herself was on fire. Now she could mentally ask herself why the hell she was doing this, because look at the glare in his eyes. It was a myriad of blazing emotions: angry that she came in and saw him the way she did, baffled as to why...but also enflamed.

"Explain yourself why this intrusion."

She swallowed and looked at him boldly, answering in a beat and without a waver. "Because I've thought this through and think now is as good as anytime, if you insist on shoving it aside until I'm dead or you're dead," Hanaru said heatedly, feeling it come over her as he loomed over, the sheet around his waist coming undone but shadowing WHAT was down there. He stiffened so much that she didn't even notice.

"And this is what I wanted to say, Itachi: I'm in love with you, and I know exactly what I'm talking about."

~o~

Usually in just his shorts, today he wanted to go all the way out as he listened to one of the best of Hanaru and her group - the one that started it all. This which spoke of everything good and bad which happened as soon as the skies turned black and the moon rose...

Itachi closed his eyes and stretched his neck backwards against the pillows. The blood wine in his veins played an additional part besides the magic of the song. He let himself be lost in her spell, exhaling and feeling his muscles rippled with each breath. His loins twitched, prompting one to raise to bend at the knee and intentionally rub against where he was starting to burn - and then his solitary elevation to utopia was interrupted when the door burst open, and there she was. In her washed out shirt dress which touched her knees, hair loose and tousled, necklace appearing heavy but was otherwise and obviously pulsating against her canvas of shimmering, fair skin...

He bolted out of bed, pulling the sheet to cover his manhood, just as he demanded she explain why she broke in like this without warning - and she just about fell off her feet at the sight of him, prompting him to dash and catch her, bringing her over to lay down in his sheets.

Now he bade her to give her answer, and it was a declaration of love, because she had plenty of time to think this over. She even had it in herself to say it even though he "insisted on shoving it aside until I'm dead or you're dead" - how could she say such a thing?!

He closed his eyes, wishing he could just open them again and see that this hadn't really happened, but all he could see behind his lids was the dream that plagued him: the same one where he and her were enveloped by ghostly gauze, but this time giving in to their passion...only to open them again, and there she was, laying in his bed and looking up at him with visible red humiliation but also determination and desire. She knew exactly what she was doing, no matter what he wanted for her.

"Hanaru, how could you insinuate that I don't want anything of the sort between us?" He slid away from her, pulling the sheet back tighter when he was aware that it was opened to show what she noticed but couldn't see clearly.

"Because it seems that way," she answered, sitting back up, and this was all too much like that night in the motel room. "I know what you are, but look at what we're going to face. I want to do this soon before something happens that we can't go back from." Yes, something we won't turn back on that is going to be what becomes of us.

Itachi turned his face away from her. Why were they having this conversation like this? Why did she have to choose now of all times, when he was exposed enough, despite centuries of it? His action made her angry. "Don't you DARE look away from me, Itachi Uchiha!"

"I resent being ordered," he said through his teeth when he did glance back at her.

"And I resent being treated delicate and fragile! I know I'm not like you, but stop putting me on a pedestal and keeping me from taking this risk!"

He hissed, feeling his teeth threaten to elongate only out of frustration. "Because this is a risk you shouldn't take unless it truly came to that," he stated. "Izumi made the choice that you are implying, and I'm not going to resort to that under these circumstances unless my hand was forced."

She hissed back at him. "I'm not asking you to turn me into like you, Sasuke and Sakura. I just want you to admit it: you love me, too. That's why I came down here, not to make things harder than they already are," she croaked, holding down tears that they were both causing. He loathed seeing her like this. "We have a connection that can't be put behind lock and key, and if we do, it's just going to consume us until neither of us can breathe anymore." She blinked, but that hardly stopped the clear fluids from leaving her glazed irises. What she didn't add was that he hardly had breath anymore - except a heart that still beat despite not functioning like a living human's.

"You're right, we are locked by the red thread," Itachi answered, bringing a hand up to his chest and closing it into a fist. "But your grandmother would never -" He was interrupted by a hiccup and a humorless laugh.

"Forget about my grandmother! This is between you and me. Who gives a shit where we come from? And who gives another shit that it's not as simple as that?! Damn it, Itachi, why do you insist on not living with the simplest joys when things are about to get worse than they are? Why do you want to be alone and without someone to share life with? I have done that, but having friends is different than...a soul mate. I am tired of being single and not enjoying what Temari and Shikamaru have, and what your brother and Sakura must have."

You think I enjoy being alone like this? I want you in more ways than one, but what about what will come...?

But on second thought, if two of her friends were using this time to enjoy what was left of the best of life, then he should have taken that into consideration. Look at them now: he was naked but with his own sheet covering his lower body, and there she was sitting up in his coffin bed, overwhelmed and exhausted with fighting him, wishing he could just admit it or let her suffocate to death.

He felt the bed shift beneath; she was moving his way, and he knew what she was going to do. "Stop." Grunting in irritation, she halted. He looked back at her and said quietly, "I know what you're going to do, but it's my turn now."

In other words, she kissed him twice, and now he would do it to her.

She was so sweet and irresistible that he wanted more; he had it and wanted more than he should. He didn't deserve her, but she felt she deserved him and wanted him to feel the same. She was right: they had to just take what existed that they couldn't control, no matter what anyone else thought. Not her grandmother, not anyone else.

Livid at himself for many reasons - but not directed at her - and one of them being denial of the pleasure that was the woman he protected because of her grandmother's wish, and because he owed her dead parents that much, Itachi leaned in and pressed his lips against hers.

What transpired could have crossed the red line if he didn't have more control than she did.

He pulled her close to him, because he desperately craved this contact from her; she did, too, when her arms came around his back and began to roam over the carved lines of his back. He let himself groan into her mouth because of the crawling of nerves at her caresses.

It's been barely a century since I've been touched like this.

The emotions that overcame him in his moment of vulnerability was enough to make the blood leak from his eyes. He closed them, but it didn't stop one tear from touching her cheek when it came to rub against his. Pulling back, Hanaru gasped softly when she saw this visible proof of his human side, but not the way she would shed a tear. She reached up and swiped it away before speaking quietly.

"Why does love have to hurt so much?"

"Because it was meant to," he answered breathily. "To make you whole and then break you apart, only to rebuild and repeat the cycle." Since time began.

~o~

Everything was all set and ready, but in midst of the military preparations - and sometimes losing communication with certain ships, numbering to two so far - there were also light moments, such as Temari and Shikamaru deciding to elope in case this could be their last chance. This was something Tsunade was sure could be squeezed into the schedule as an "in case we die" scenario.

Marriage was something she and Dan would have considered, but he had been taken so soon. That was why it was drilled to be as soon as possible notably during crisis like this...

At the end of the month, the day took place on one of the balconies of the estate, but not directly outside due to the snow. Inside where it was nice and warm. The bride herself had black ribbons in her pigtails, and the dress had a high neck with ruffles and a knee-length skirt. And the one to marry them was Commander Hatake, honored as he was.

Unfortunately, not only would Kankuro Sabaku not be here to see his sister marry the love of her life, their father was too busy to make another trip and walk his daughter to her husband-to-be.

Hanaru was right beside her best friend, and wiping her eyes with all the tissues she could have; Sakura was doing the same, but in contrast, the human had real, clear salty fluids while the vampire bled from her bright green eyes. Oh, and Choji - sweet, sweet Choji was hiccupping and doing what Hanaru was, for Shikamaru who was unable to stop grinning like an idiot...and so was Naruto, who was finally released and had mastered but also came to an understanding with the demon fox who said that his name was Kurama, whilst Gaara's was called Shukaku.

The Uchiha brothers - for once, both were giving small smiles that were better than nothing. Just showing the entire organization that there was more than their purpose. That Tsunade enjoyed immensely.

There was also Jiraiya who was next to her, between her and Shizune, and he was misty-eyed alright. "Hell of a day, isn't it?" he asked after a sniffle that only made her chuckle.

A hell of a day it was when it ended with the bridal couple sharing a big kiss that the wife initiated heavily on her end, making the entire room burst into guffaws, and of course Hanaru cheered Temari on while her brother and the bride's both told the pair to get a room.

I could have gotten this out yesterday, but something terrible happened. My grandmother has been hospitalized and likely has pneumonia, but she still hasn't gotten a room and therefore we still don't know yet. (angry face)

We'd been up most of the night, had over seven hours of sleep afterwards, and we were back today only to find she still hadn't gotten a room that was discharged for her.

Just our luck, huh? My aunt comes, things are good so far, we had a great Thanksgiving dinner...and THIS happens. Hopefully Grandma will be fine, because she's taken care of herself before, and my aunt is here for reasons.

Review please.