Well, this little fic came a long way from when the plot bunny first started chewing it's way into my brain. First, it had Usagi being Sasuke's secret girlfriend, with Itachi comforting and eventually falling in love with Usagi after Sasuke broke up with her. Second, it had Usagi being the survivor of a powerful clan that was murdered by Orochimaru, and she's basically a walking corpse thanks to one of his jutsus, and oh, did I mention she eventually falls in love with Gaara? Bah, I am so weird... But, if on the off chance someone wants to take one of the above ideas and do something of their own with it, they're more than welcome to-- just make sure you let me know first.

Hmmmm...I'm actually having quite a bit of fun writing this fic! Of course, it could be due to the crapload of Christmas cookies I just ingested and the fact that I'm listening to 'Bad Reputation' by Joan Jett and bouncing off the walls... Screw this, just enjoy the fic!

Pairings: ItachixUsagi, past somewhat onesided IrukaxUsagi

Disclaimer: Own nothing.

There's no one in town I know
You gave us someplace to go
I never said thank you for that
I thought I might get one more chance
What would you think of me now
So lucky, so strong, so proud?
I never said thank you for that
Now I'll never have a chance

Hear You Me, Jimmy Eat World

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Usagi fixed her gaze firmly on her ramen, trying to ignore the three approaching ninja and enjoy her food. Naruto, little devil that he was, was not exactly letting her plan work itself out with all his shouts and wild arm-wavings, and the jounin and his two students had seen them (obviously) and were coming toward them (even more obvious). So much for being invisible...

"Naruto, you jerk! Where were you? You should have been back half an hour ago!" the pink-haired girl fumed, her fist poised threateningly above the blond's head. "You better have a good excuse, or I swear..."

"If I may?" Usagi intervened quickly, subtly hooking two fingers into Naruto's collar and tugging him away from the danger zone. "It was my fault. I gave him a bad scare, so I brought him down here for some ramen as an apology."

Well, it was more or less the truth. The chuunin frowned slightly at the golden-haired boy, noting that Naruto looked guilty before he bowed his head over his bowl of ramen. Stopping for shuriken practice in the middle of a mission? I must be missing something here... Usagi mused, and made her second split-decision of the day.

"I'm sorry. If I'd known he was on a mission, I wouldn't have bothered him," Usagi apologized humbly, crossing her fingers behind her back. NOT!

"Oh," 'Pinky' said, deflating as she noticed the older girl that she had previously overlooked. The dark-haired boy, Sasuke, glanced at Usagi, who turned her face away, letting her long bangs shadow her expression.

He doesn't know me, there's no way he could-- he never even met me, and no one knew that Itachi was teaching me.

That didn't mean Itachi couldn't have told his younger brother-- No. Itachi was a private and solitary person by nature, and would never have divulged anything to anyone unless he believed it was absolutely necessary.

Not even to me.

"Hey, why don't you sit down and have ramen with us?" Usagi asked, forcing cheerfulness into her tone. "My treat!"

"That, we'll accept," Kakashi replied, not even looking up from his perverted novel. The chuunin's eye twitched as it landed on the vile orange piece of literature in her sometimes-sparring partner's hands. The only time Usagi could get a decent fight out of him was when she threatened to rip Kakashi's precious book to shreds if he didn't leave it on the sidelines while they sparred.

"Hey, old man! Come take our orders!" Naruto called, waving his chopsticks in the air. Usagi blinked at the now-empty bowl in front of the genin. Hadn't it been half full just a few minutes ago...? Worriedly, Usagi peeked into her wallet and breathed a mental sigh of relief when she saw that there was enough money to last a couple dozen bowls of ramen. And Iruka deals with this at least every few days, the chuunin thought, completely frazzled. Where does Naruto PUT all that ramen?!

Usagi picked up her chopsticks again and poked despondently at her now-cold ramen and listening with one ear to the newly arrived three's orders. Please let them not be ramen freaks too...

"You know, you didn't introduce your other students to me, Kakashi," the blonde said, making a stab at conversation. "If you took your nose out of that nasty book every once in while, maybe you'd remember stuff like this..."

"..." Kakashi waved a hand at the chuunin dismissively without even looking up. Usagi's eye twitched again dangerously. What was it about the jounin that made her want to stick a kunai in his face? Might have been this sort of stuff, but you never know...

But in spite of it all, he's always been there, hasn't he? He never let me shrink into the shadows and hide from everyone. He and Anko-sensei taught me to be bold.

"Dumbass," she muttered fondly, and looked at Pinky and Sasuke. "Your names?"

"Sakura Haruno," the pink-haired girl said promptly.

"...Sasuke Uchiha."

"Nice to meet you," Usagi said cordially. She snuck a glance at Naruto, who was oblivious to all around him as he wolfed down his treat. A smile quirked on her lips, and she immediately quelled it, but not fast enough.

"Getting soft in your old age, are you?" Kakashi remarked, his one visible eye now locked on the chuunin's face. How does that bastard seem totally out of it, and then when you least expect it, BAM!! He jumps on you like an overgrown spider...Ewww, bad mental image.

"You shouldn't be talking about old age, perv," Usagi retorted, pushing away her ramen. "I'm only fifteen. You're what, forty? Sixty?" The chuunin resolutely ignored the fact that all three genin had turned to watch the show, even Naruto (who had finished his eighth bowl by now, in case anyone was wondering).

"Pervert? At least I'm not covered from head to foot in fishnet," the jounin snipped. Usagi grinned sheepishly, raising a hand to finger the mesh on her shoulder. Admittedly at first she'd hated fishnet and the idea of wearing it even more until Anko had forced her to try it on and thoroughly explained its uses-- such as being a protective body glove (both Anko and Usagi wore fishnet with steel cores) and a distraction to wandering shinobi eyes. Now, the young chuunin had a longsleeved fishnet undershirt that went to her knuckles and covered her hands like fingerless gloves, with a sleeveless black turtleneck that exposed her mesh-covered middle, and fishnet leggings with black skorts and boots.

"I'll concede to that, but you're still a pervert," Usagi said dryly, dropping her hand to rest on the counter.

"Brat."

"Geezer!"

"Hag!"

"Pedophile!"

"Now that was just rude."

Usagi paused, mulling it over. "You're right. My apologies."

"No offense taken. What's the matter?" The last bit had been directed at the three genin, who couldn't have looked more surprised if Usagi and Kakashi had pulled two fish out of their pockets and started dueling with them.

"N-nothing, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura replied somewhat shakily, trying to concentrate on eating her ramen. The chuunin blinked in confusion, then looked over her shoulder at Kakashi, whose expression mirrored her own.

"You'd think we did something wrong..." Usagi mumbled, making an effort not to bang her head into the table. "All right, what's got you kids so worked up?" Neither Naruto nor Sasuke made any effort to answer.

"All right then, you tell me," Usagi demanded, stabbing a finger in Sakura's direction.

"Well...it's just that..." the jade-eyed girl fumbled for words. "You're a chuunin, and Sensei is a jounin! Shouldn't you at least be showing each other respect?"

A long, silent moment stretched between the five silent ninja. Kakashi and Usagi met each other's eyes, and then burst out laughing. All three genin sweatdropped as two of Konoha's finest rolled around on their asses laughing hysterically.

"I beg (giggle, snicker) your pardon, Sakura," Usagi said, trying to act as dignified as possible while wiping tears of mirth off of her face. "We DO respect each other...really, we do. That conversation didn't convey lack of respect. It just shows that we're comfortable enough in the other's presence to insult each other."

"And besides," Kakashi picked up, going into 'lecture mode'. "Power-wise, there's not much difference between us." Here he paused, actually putting down his beloved book. "Which reminds me, are you going to be taking the jounin exam in Kusagakure this year?"

"No," Usagi said calmly, doing a complete one-eighty mood swing as she stabbed her chopsticks into her ramen with unwonted venom. An aura of doom and death swirled around her body, which was more than enough to make any sane person back away, then run as fast as they could in the opposite direction. But hey, since when was Kakashi sane?

"Oh, don't be mad. There's no reason for you to be so grouchy whenever someone brings up the two jounin exams that you could have taken."

"Shut up," Usagi growled moodily, pushing her bowl away.

"Why don't you want to take the jounin exam?" Sasuke asked suddenly, jet black eyes boring into the chuunin's dark blue. Of course, Kakashi had to cut in.

"Because Usagi is more than qualified to take and pass the exam, and has been receiving pressure from...certain sources--"

"You mean bitchy old farts from my clan," Usagi put in gloomily.

"As I was saying," the jounin continued, glaring slightly at the blonde. "She's being pressured by what's left of the elders of her clan to--"

"Restore the 'great' Tsukino name," the teenager mimicked dully, slumping onto the bar. "And this is coming from the jerks who called me a miserable failure and a shame to the clan, and everything else under the sun."

"You're from the Tsukino clan?" Sasuke asked, startled. Usagi made a face, trying not to let the sinking feeling in her heart get to her and avoid the Uchiha's eyes at the same time.

You look too much like your brother, kid...

"Beh," she muttered, getting up and waving a dismissive hand. "Don't dwell on it, it's not something that should be thought about. See you around, okay?" And then she ran off without even a glance backward.

"What's wrong with her?" Naruto asked, concern visible in his bright blue eyes. The masked man sighed and shook his head.

"Who knows?" he said, his one visible eye slightly sad. "If it's not one thing with her, it's another..."

Usagi...I hope you'll be alright. Don't break down-- you've come this far, despite everything.

"I'm going to show those rotten old creeps! I'm going to be the best kunoichi that I can be, and that'll be enough. Did you know, they never even thought I'd make genin? Ha! Look at me now!"

The only time I ever saw you cry... I don't think I'll ever forget it.

"It doesn't matter anymore, because he's gone. Itachi-sensei left, and he isn't coming back."

I don't think you even know the full extent of how much he hurt you. Or maybe you do know, and you just don't want to touch it because you're afraid...

"Take a hint, Kakashi! I don't want to talk about it, and nothing you say would make it stop hurting anyway. Just...just leave me alone."

You're afraid the scars will break open and you'll lose everything that you've struggled to rebuild.

"Something to live for, huh? I'll get back to you on that."

Just don't lose hope. You'll find your reason someday-- that I can promise you.

Kakashi blinked, snapping himself out of his reverie. Why did he feel like he'd forgotten something...? His one visible eye widened when he saw the numerous empty bowls in front of Naruto, and then it hit him. Jumping to his feet, the jounin shot out of the Ichiraku's and in the direction Usagi had last gone.

"USAGI!!! GET BACK HERE AND PAY FOR THE RAMEN, YOU CHEAPSKATE!!!"

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"Would you look at that..." Usagi murmured to herself, hands clasped behind her head as she gazed in awe at the blazes of glory hurling themselves across the sky. It was moments like this that made you think life really was something beautiful, if it let you see things like this.

"Hm. You were right. This is an event that shouldn't be missed."

The chuunin clenched her fists, feeling miserable yet again. Why...why did her old sensei's memory continue to plague her still? Every time Usagi thought she was free of him, Itachi-sensei's soft words echoed in her ears, the recollection of his arms catching her as she tumbled from the tree the day they met, would resurface and the kunoichi would be back to square one.

What will it take...for you to release your hold on me?

"I don't want to lose you too."

Impassive dark eyes gentled slightly, so very slightly.

"You won't."

"You promise?"

"I promise."

"LIAR!" Usagi exploded, sitting bolt upright and yelling at the top of her lungs. What did it matter? No one could hear her anyway, not with all the racket the villagers were making. "You're a goddamned liar, Itachi! I hate you! I hate you, you hear me?! I HATE YOU!!"

Now who's the liar?

"No, you don't," Anko said clearly from behind her. Ignoring Usagi's raging glare, she continued. "You hate the fact that he left you behind. You hate that you see him everywhere. You loathe what he did to his clan. You can use all this to convince yourself that you hate him, but you don't, and no matter how much you try, you can't."

Sniffling a little, Usagi wiped her eyes with the back of her hand-- when had she started crying?-- and nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt her ex-sensei's hand gently ruffle her hair. She looked up and saw Anko's eyes were filled with understanding and sympathy, which was downright uncharacteristic of her. But it was a nice gesture, all the same.

"I've been there before, brat. I made it out, and so will you," the jounin said firmly. "Just sit here a while and think, alright? Watch the meteor shower and see if anything comes to you."

"What's supposed to come to me?" Usagi asked blearily, but Anko was already gone. The chuunin shook her head, vaguely wondering in the back of her mind if the sadistic kunoichi had been stalking her.

Still, Anko-sensei knew what she was talking about. Orochimaru had done the same thing to her, but had been a hell of a lot less nice about it. At least Anko had gotten closure-- Itachi-sensei had been there one day, then poof, he was gone the next. Usagi had never even suspected anything would happen.

"I'll be back soon," Itachi said, voice velvety soft and containing a tinge of amusement. "Study those scrolls I gave you. No slacking off, understand?"

"Yes, Itachi-sensei," Usagi said obediently, fingering the bandages on her shoulder ruefully. "I promise I'll do my best."

Pale fingers snagged the smaller hand of the same shade and tugged it down, away from the injured area. Itachi gripped the nine year-old's hand firmly, then laid his other hand against the curve of Usagi's bird-fragile cheekbone.

"Don't push yourself. These things take time, understand?"

"Yes," Usagi said, ducking her head guiltily. "I just-- get frustrated, that's all."

"I know," Itachi said, releasing her hand. "Your mother is probably worried about you."

Usagi stuck her tongue out at him. "You're just saying that to get rid of me, jerk," she muttered, fake-pouting as she walked off. A smile tugged at Itachi's lips.

"Such a horrible child you are. What would you do if I died tomorrow?" Usagi swung around, eyes alight and sparkling with pure mischief.

"I'd dance all over your grave!" she laughed.

That day...it was almost like saying goodbye.

Usagi sighed slightly in regret as the meteor shower slowly ended. It was just as breathtaking as the one she and Itachi-sensei had seen seven years ago.

Maybe...just maybe there will be a time when I can think of him without pain.

A lone meteor glinted, making a fiery streak across the sky as it hurried to join its fellows.

It's not a shooting star, but all the same... I wish that I could have just one more day of believing Itachi-sensei cares.

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Thousands of miles away, Itachi Uchiha was crouched at the top of a tree, watching the same meteor speed away until he could no longer see it, even with his Sharingan. He resisted the (in his mind) insane urge to reach after it, instead settling back into the tree. It had been fairly easy to get Kisame to stop for a few hours, and even easier to shut the damn shark up just by glaring at him a little-- it never ceased to amuse the Uchiha the way people squeaked when he frowned only a tiny bit.

"Are you done yet?"

Kisame was hovering around the base of the tree, his expression caught halfway between impatience and fear. Itachi suppressed a sigh and slipped down to the base as well, ignoring the way his partner took a slight step back. This was entirely his own fault-- the eighteen year-old had been unusually brutal toward their target on their last mission and had refused point-blank to discuss it (it didn't really count because he refused point-blank to discuss pretty much anything with others). Old memories kept bothering him often as of late, and no matter how much Itachi shoved them to the back of his head, they kept popping back up. The downside to this was that it irritated him, and an irritated S-class missing-nin does not bode well for other people, comrade or not.

"So...why did you want to stop and watch the meteor shower?" Kisame asked, making a stab at conversation. Normally, this would have been ignored, but not tonight.

"Memories. Perhaps even regrets."

"Huh. I thought I just dreamed the whole thing up. I guess you really are real."

"If this mad idea of yours pans out, I might actually be able to become a decent kunoichi and get the elders off my back!"

"Please don't say you understand, Itachi-sensei. You're the pride of your clan-- you don't know what it's like to live in a world where people regard your very existence as a sin and a waste."

"Friends? No, I don't have any friends. Other than you, of course."

Usagi...

Maybe one day, he could explain his actions to her, and hope for forgiveness. And maybe, just maybe, she'd smile at him the way she used to, the way that said 'I know, you don't have to tell me, I like you anyway and I'll be here if you need me'. For some reason, Itachi's cold heart fluttered like a butterfly spreading its wings, unsure if it should take off or not.

This feeling... perhaps one day, you'll explain it to me.

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White: Well, that didn't take as long as I thought it would. Would you kill me if I told you I almost finished it last week, and then was too lazy to write the last few paragraphs? Eheheh... Please don't kill me, I want to live, to write more ItaUsa fanfiction! (strikes stupid, Gai-like pose) YOSH! THE POWER OF Y--

Random Naruto characters: (pop out of the woodwork and pummel me senseless)

White: OUCH!!!

Naruto: SSSHHHHHHH!!! (looks frantically from side to side) Do you want HIM to hear?!?

White: (looks sheepish) Oh...sorry.

Itachi: (glares) You make our live enough of a hell without bringing HIM into the mix.

White: (incredulously) A hell? How rude of you, Itachi! And here I am, pairing you up with Usagi, my number-one gal. I think I'll just go and change the pairing to full-on IrukaUsagi...

Itachi: ...nevermind...

White: (satisfied grin) That's what I thought.

READERS: I'm going to be needing some help, regarding the upcoming jounin exam that Usagi is going to be taking (poor Usagi...she'll smash my head in when she hears this). Since it hasn't been said how you are qualified to become a jounin, I will just make it somewhat like the chuunin exams. Will you please help me come up with ideas for the first two parts of the exam? The last part will be one-on-one fights, and if you could come up with some OC ninja, that would be wonderful as well, because OCs aren't exactly my strong point... THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

COMING UP NEXT: Usagi goes on a solo mission to escort Yugito, the two-tailed cat jinchuuriki, to a place that is safe from the Akatsuki. When Yugito and Usagi meet, neither is what the other expects, and a friendship blossoms. But when Sasori and Deidara of Akatsuki show up to crash the party, will they prevail, or will Yugito be captured? Find out next time!

Read and review, please.