Chapter 3: The End of Sanity
A/N: I am very sorry about the very long wait between the updates. I'm literally home two hours a day excluding the time I spend sleeping and eating so I am sort of busy. When I do get to use the computer I'm either trying to watch the newest episodes of Bleach, Naruto, Marchen Awakens Romance or just trying to reply to emails. I manage to get some writing in but I get about an hour of writing in a week. Ah...the days of freedom seem so far away...(Christmas holidays...)
You tend to find allies in the weirdest places.
Naruto
"I can't believe I'm stuck with you!" I complained loudly.
The pissy shark man, who sat as far as his necklace would allow him, bared his razor sharp teeth and growled at me angrily, "Shut up, you're too loud."
"I don't like you," I told him bluntly and he crossed his arms over his broad chest, glaring at me through beady black eyes.
"You don't think the feeling is mutual?" He snapped at me irritably.
"Shut up! You…you…" I trailed off towards the end, trying to think of an insult that would ultimately crush this stupid…stupid…
"Don't hurt yourself," Kisame interrupted my runaway train of thought.
I stood up suddenly and pointed an accusing finger at him, yelling, "Shut up! You stupid sushi man!"
Kisame stood up as well, his flimsy gills flapping in annoyance as he yelled back at me equally as angrily, "Who are you calling a sushi man, you stupid blondie!"
"What have you got against blondes?!" I screamed back at him irritably.
"Everything! They're annoying, loud, stupid and just like you," He retorted, his onyx eyes gleaming.
"Why you…!" I ran towards him and drew my clenched fist back. I swung at him powerfully and he ducked beneath my strong, muscular arm. He grabbed my ankle and lifted it up, using his shoulder to push me over. I fell onto the tatami mat floor and scrambled away from him, getting back to my feet as quickly as possible.
"You're my hostage! You're not supposed to hit me, you dumb shark!" I snapped at him, rubbing my sore back with a large hand. Kisame winced a few moments after I had and began to rub his back as well, glaring at me as if it were my fault the necklace had that nasty side effect.
"I'll do whatever I damn please!" Kisame spat at me and a quiet rap on the wood of the rice paper door distracted the both of us.
We both yelled at the door angrily, "Who the hell is it?!"
"Uhm…i-if it's a bad time, Naruto-kun, I can come back again later…" A quiet, tentative voice from the other side of the door apologized.
I bounded excitedly towards the shojo screen door and wrenched it open before Kisame could smart mouth the timid woman whom I knew had to be Hinata. The dark purple haired woman seemed shocked at my sudden appearance and I leaned against the doorframe, beaming at her.
"Hi, Hinata-chan!" I greeted her energetically and she returned my bright smile shyly.
"G-Good morning, Naruto-kun," She greeted me politely and bowed deeply before me. I noticed the white food container in her womanly hands and my face lit up at the sight of it. A savoury, ramen-y smell wafted from the box and I slung a muscled arm over her shoulder, peering down at it.
"Hey, hey, Hinata-chan, is that ramen?" I asked her excitedly and all of a sudden her pale face went really red.
Oh no! Was she sick? If she wasn't feeling good then I'd have to bring her to Sakura-chan! She looked really hot, like she was having a fever or something.
"Oi, are you okay Hinata? You look really red…" I commented and put a large hand on her forehead and frowned.
"You don't have a fever…I wonder what's wrong. Do you feel okay?" I repeated my previous question with even more concern.
She shook her head vigorously, her long dark hair flying about as she did so and she looked down at her sandaled feet. She managed a quiet, "I-I'm fine, Naruto-kun. You don't need to worry about me…"
"But we're friends! I have to worry about you!" I protested and for a moment she didn't say anything at all. She nodded again and I found her long silence a bit scary.
"Oi, Hinata?" I called her name and tapped on her head with my knuckles.
She looked up at me with wide, opaque eyes and all of a sudden, held out the white box to me. I took it from her and opened it curiously, my cerulean eyes lit up when I realized what it was.
Ramen! Hinata's homemade ramen!
Hinata's cooking was really good! It was almost as good as Ichiraku's but Ichiraku would always be the best. The old man there was really cool too, he gave me an extra bowl of ramen after I bought my first eight and then Ayame-chan, the pretty waitress who worked there, would sneak me a second one when he wasn't looking.
"Wah, it's ramen! Thank you Hinata-chan!" I hugged her suddenly and she let out a small yelp of surprise.
I felt something warm and wet slosh my dark orange shirt and Kisame chipped in unhelpfully, "Nice going, dumbass."
I looked down and despaired when I realized that the watery yellow soup of the ramen had gotten all over Hinata and me. Her black shirt was really wet now and she went bright red again.
"Hinata-chan! I'm so sorry! Wait, wait, I'll get you another shirt, I have some spares," I told her hurriedly.
"Naruto-kun, it's okay I have-" She began but I had dashed off already to grab a shirt from my closet.
I heard a wolf whistle from somewhere behind me and glared at Kisame who had begun to stare unashamedly at Hinata. I shook my head at his antics and grabbed a dark blue shirt (Shikamaru had made me bring dark shirts this time, he said that it was stupid to bring bright colours on a mission) off of its hanger and turned around.
"Hinata-chan, here's a shirt-" I began but stopped mid-sentence when I saw her.
All I could do was gape at her. I was lost for words.
The black shirt she was wearing had been really baggy but since the soup had sloshed all over it, it clung revealingly to her body. I…I didn't even know Hinata had boobs…not boobs that big!
Hinata-chan…she was…she was a babe!
"Hey, close your mouth, you're drooling blondie," Kisame's gruff voice dragged me forcefully out of my state of shock and I blushed, finally finding myself.
"Uh…H-Hinata here's a sh-shirt…you can give it back to me to- whenever you want," I stuttered embarrassedly and I held the shirt out to her, my hand trembling slightly.
I avoided looking at her and she reached for the dark shirt shyly. When our hands touched unexpectedly, it was like an electric shock, and the both of us jumped before laughing nervously. She took the shirt from me at last and pulled it over her head, covering her wet body.
"I-uh, Thank you Naruto-kun," She thanked me gratefully and I shook my head vigorously, finally finding the courage to look up at her.
"It's okay! Oh…but I'm sorry about the ramen, I'm really, really, really sorry!" I apologized repeatedly.
She laughed, a tinkly, musical sound and smiled at me. It was a simple movement but it brought out the hidden beauty in her pale face, it was a uniqueness I found I…I sort of liked. I felt all the blood in my body rush to my face and I tried my best to force it down.
Unfortunately, I couldn't hit it or anything so it didn't really work…
Why was I acting like this?! I had seen Hinata millions of times before, why now?!
"Bye, Naruto-kun," Hinata bowed to me before rushing out of the door in what seemed to be a very, very fast walk.
The rolling doors had already shut when I lifted up my hand to wave back at her. I cocked it slightly and murmured, "Bye…"
"She's a looker," Kisame commented and I nodded dumbly, wondering why I hadn't noticed Hinata had a body like that before. It was only a few moments later his words registered in my mind and I shot up rigid.
"Don't talk about Hinata like that!" I snapped at him and he smirked, a gesture that made his sharp teeth stand out and gleam in the dying sunlight.
"Oh, its Hinata now is it? What happened to 'Hinata-chan'?" Kisame pressed me for answers and I realized my mistake, feeling the blood I had just managed to force away from my face race back up again.
"Shut up, I am your superior anyways!" I screamed at Kisame.
"Since when?!" Kisame yelled back furiously.
Sakura
"Don't tell me its morning already…" I mumbled into my pillow, burying my face deep into it.
The sun's bright morning rays were really beginning to piss me off; I could feel them on the back of my neck. I decided it was a bad idea to put the futons near the window. I didn't care about what Ino said about that feng shui crap whatever it was; I was definitely moving the futon.
I willed with all of my being that the sun would go away or something, like that children's rhyme whatever it was (or was it the rain that would go away? Either way around, the sun was a pain in the neck in the morning). Unfortunately, simply wishing for the sun to get lost didn't work and I forced myself to open my tired jade green eyes. I groaned and threw off my covers, rolling over to the left. The cool feel of the tatami mats graced my burning back and I sighed in contentment, blankly staring up at the white ceiling. I waited a few moments and let my thoughts drift about lazily in my mind before sitting up.
"I should kill Shikamaru-san or something…" I mused aloud.
I dragged myself over to the chest of drawers, pulling my oversized sleeping shirt on the way there. I shivered as the morning air came into contact with my exposed skin; I didn't wear any shorts to sleep so I was only in my white underwear at the moment. I jumped when something made a loud 'thunk'. The floor shook slightly with the force of the fall and I turned around to look at what had happened. A pale faced and stoic looking Itachi was busy picking himself up from the ground and he shot me a quick glare that would have made Medusa herself freeze over and die.
"Urgh, you're still here aren't you…" I mumbled to myself and Itachi walked towards me. He brushed past me rudely and leaned against the chest of drawers, staring unashamedly at me.
"Hey! What are you doing, I'm changing!" I yelled at him, using my dull shirt to cover myself up since I was currently in a state of half nakedness.
He pointed to the tracing necklace around his neck silently and I snapped at him, "I don't care if you've got that damn thing on, turn around! It's rude to stare at a woman while she's changing!"
"Do not flatter yourself by thinking that one such as I would look at you," He retorted coldly.
His words stung and I swear, his ego was way too big for my liking. Honestly! 'One such as I', who did he think he was? Sure, I was terrified of him in the beginning but he was just plain annoying now! He was a million times worse than Sasuke when it came to the, 'I'm so much better than you so go die' attitude and for a brief moment I wondered if all the other Uchiha clan members had been as stuck up and as proud as these two.
One such as I, oh yeah sure whatever. One such as I; what a pompous ass! And, I was so sure that was incorrect grammar!
"Whatever pretty boy, I don't care just close your eyes even if one such as you won't look at me," I grumbled and he complied readily.
His enigmatic red eyes closed and the scars that ran down from the corner of his eyes diagonally downwards seemed to soften with that one motion. I stared at him for a few moments and couldn't help but think that he seemed so…so normal when he did that. He seemed just like any other person with his eyes closed but when they opened…
I sighed and let the ratty shirt I wore drop to the tatami floor, pulling open the top wooden drawer in one quick fluid motion. The clothes inside were a total mess, a jumble of colours and the occasional secret weapon here and there. I groaned and began to search through the clothes for something that I felt like wearing today; even though all of the clothes seemed pretty much the same. I grabbed a roll of white linen bandages from the top of the dresser and began to mechanically wrap my chest with it; it was a daily thing. I pulled out a dark red shirt with white lining and pulled it over my head, tugging on it once, twice to make sure that it didn't slip or anything. It was a stupid thing to trust an S class criminal and I wasn't about to disprove that theory now. I growled, thinking that all my shorts were far too short for my liking although they had seemed decent enough last week. Sharing a room with a man did change your opinion on things…
I yanked on a pair of black shorts that came up to mid-thigh and strapped on a couple of thigh holsters. I paused in the middle of strapping the second one on before yanking them both off and digging through my drawers for all of my weapons; Itachi could still stab me with whatever he could get his hands on and I wouldn't be able to say a damn thing about it. I gathered all of my weapons into a dark green duffel bag which Sasuke had let me borrow last summer for keeping my dirty clothes in. Of course, I would have to find a substitute for those now that I was using this bag for my weapons. I was actually surprised that Sasuke even had a bag of a different colour other than blue and when I had told him that he had glared at me. It was in bad condition and I had been even more so surprised at Sasuke, he seemed like a neat freak sort of person. It had a few various coloured patches all over it, along with a white patch that was fashioned into the words 'Sexy Ninja'. I doubted it was even Sasuke's.
"Are you decent?" Itachi asked me impatiently and I pulled the two strings at the top of the duffel bag as hard as I could before knotting it tightly.
"Now I am," I replied and swung the duffel bag carefully onto my shoulder.
Itachi looked at the bag for the briefest of moments before his piercing red eyes flickered back to mine. His calloused hand reached for the colourful beaded necklace around his neck and he tugged on it, once, twice, and then he asked me in a low voice, "Where did you get that bag?"
"I got it from Sasuke. Why?" I answered cautiously. Itachi stared at the bag for a long time before he shook his head quickly, his black locks flying about his head as he walked briskly ahead of me towards the door.
"Hey! You're supposed to be following me!" I yelled after him.
Itachi
That bag…
Why wasn't it with her?
That brainless girl shouldn't have even been touching that bag, it should have just been given to her like it was supposed to have been!
And…how did Sasuke, Sasuke, of all people get his hands on it?
The pink haired girl ran to catch up to me and my dark red eyes flickered sideways to look at her for a moment. I wanted to rip that bag out of her hands and give it to his girlfriend like it was supposed to have been. I was on the verge of yanking the beaded necklace off of my neck with the force I was pulling it with and I restrained from pulling on it any further. I certainly didn't want it breaking in two.
"Good morning, Sakura," A quiet, timid voice from somewhere behind me greeted the idiot girl and I felt the familiar annoying tug of the necklace as I was pulled back to the aforementioned idiot.
"Oh! Good morning Hinata! Isn't that…Isn't that Naruto's shirt?" The insufferable pink haired kunoichi's face was a picture of surprise as she spoke with a dark haired girl, presumably Hinata.
For a few moments, her face began to swim strangely before my eyes, making it near impossible for me to make out her features. My legs swayed funnily and I straightened my knees suddenly, an instant reflex.
"It is Naruto-kun's shirt," She replied nervously and began to press her pale fingers together anxiously, "Is that a bad thing, Sakura-san?"
"G-Good morning, Itachi-kun," Hinata bowed to me.
I inclined my head slightly to show that I had acknowledged her bow. Judging from her opaque eyes, I guessed that she was a Hyuuga but she didn't seem very impressive from what I had seen of her. Her black shirt was four sizes far too big and was very crumpled. How could an ANBU squad member be so…so meek?
"It's not a bad thing Hinata! But…you didn't do anything…I mean, why do you have Naruto's shirt?" The pink haired girl pressed Hinata for answers.
"I brought Naruto-kun ramen this morning and he accidentally spilled it all over me. He let me borrow his shirt," Hinata explained with a small, bashful smile.
"Really?! Hey, what did he do? What did he say? Did he do anything really-" the pink haired devil began to fire off a multitude of questions and I cleared my throat loudly to get her attention.
"What do you want?" the irritable girl asked me rudely.
"I have no wish to stand here and listen to your conversation. You have business elsewhere," I reminded the forgetful girl.
She sighed and put a hand on Hinata's shoulder, telling her, "You have to tell me what happened later, okay? Come to my quarters, oh, and bring Ino with you."
Hinata's eyes flickered to mine for the briefest of seconds before she nodded quickly. I turned away from the two girls and began to briskly walk away. I heard the pink haired girl before I saw her, her leather shoes made a loud slapping noise on the wood as she ran to catch up with me. The entire structure vibrated with her running and I began to doubt whether or not this really was a stable building or not.
"You are so rude!" She exclaimed angrily.
"I have a reason to be rude. You don't," I retorted calmly and she crossed her lean arms over her ample chest, glaring at me.
"When have I been rude to anyone? And, don't get all, 'Oh, I got captured by a bunch of ANBU so I suck so bad I can do whatever I want'!" She snapped at me and I felt the urge to claw out her annoying eyes, or something to that extent. She just didn't shut up.
"You were just very rude, it seems they don't teach the children manners in the academy nowadays," I commented and her green eyes flared fiercely at me.
"I am not a child! I am a respectable nineteen year old and I also have a reason to be rude!" She argued back.
"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow at her antics and she nodded vigorously, placing her hands on her hips.
"I am stuck with one of the most arrogant, insensitive, rude jerks alive for more than three months. That's not a good thing you know!" She explained, shaking an angry finger at me.
"You will not talk about me in that way," I growled at her and she leaned forwards provocatively.
"I don't think you can tell me what to do, Uchiha-kun because I can do whatever I want here. This is my territory, not yours! Anyways, you're just a heartless jerk who killed anyone and everyone you could to get those stupid eyes-" She began.
I don't know what came over me but I just had to shut her up. I grabbed her by the chin and covered her mouth with a calloused hand, ignoring her wide eyed expression of unguarded fear as I did so. I stared deep into her eyes; my own hardened over so that they looked like chips of iced blood. She looked as if her heart had just stopped beating and I congratulated myself inwardly on having such an intimidating effect on people.
I hissed at her, "Do not talk about things that are far beyond your own comprehension."
I released her then, turning to continue the way we were headed and she made no move to catch up to me, settling for the farthest away she could stay. It was obvious I had frightened her and that was the way it should have been, although I did find her silence somewhat unsettling. I said nothing though and the both of us remained that way for a long time.
"Shut up, you blondie!" A voice I instantly recognized to be Kisame's gruffly yelled. For a moment, I thought he was yelling at Deidara again and that we were back at the headquarters. He and Kisame had this sort of love hate relationship, but when they argued Deidara always seemed to win.
"I won't shut up, you stupid fish face!" An equally rough voice yelled back.
Their loud voices made my head hurt and throb uncontrollably; I sighed inwardly. Deidara would never have come up with such a ridiculous and unoriginal comeback. Annoying as he was, you had to give him some credit for his arguments. A door opened loudly and I looked at it through the corner of my eye and saw a tall, broad shouldered blonde man standing angrily in its doorway. Sakura stopped and I was yanked backwards by an annoying force other than gravity. The blonde haired man's blue eyes flickered to me and his left eye gleamed strangely as he did so.
The pink haired girl ran up to this boy and I was ungracefully pulled along. I gave up resisting; I would look like a silly idiot if I was seen trying to resist it. The girl ran up to this boy and stood on his left, waving to him. The boy made no movement to suggest that he had acknowledged her and instead, his blue eyes were fixed on mine. She sighed and moved around so that she was on his right and beamed up at him.
"Hey! Sakura-chan!" The boy instantly recognized her and greeted her in a boisterous hug.
My eyes narrowed slightly at the boy; it was suspicious that he hadn't noticed her at all when she stood on his left. His right eye moved to look at her while his left eye did absolutely nothing, it simply rolled lazily in its socket. It was almost as if he had no control over it…
"Naruto, you can let go of me," Her voice was muffled by his dark shirt and I realized that this must have been the boy who had lent Hinata a shirt. The boy was tall, about three heads taller than me. He could rival Kisame when it came to height, though I was doubtful whether or not he could prove himself stronger. Kisame may not have been a genius but his brawn more than made up for it.
"Oh! Sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto apologized quickly and released her quickly, smiling brightly at her.
"It's okay but Hinata told me that she gave you something to eat," At this point, the girl raised a questioning eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Ah! Well…Sakura-chan…you see I can't give you any because…" Naruto began to stumble over his words.
"Blondie spilled the food all over Hinata. Good thing is though, she has one hell of a body," Kisame commented from somewhere behind Naruto and the pink girl's eyebrows shot up all the way into her hairline.
"What do you mean by that?" She exclaimed loudly and Kisame pushed through Naruto so that he was grinning impishly at the girl.
"She has boobs that are about the same size as yours, an hourglass figure and one nice ass," Kisame answered her bluntly and I felt the corner of my mouth twitch.
The both of us were supposed to be working on how to get out of here, but all he could do was stare at the closest girl that had a body that would obviously distract him. I would probably end up having to go and save him although he was the one always insisting that Akatsuki was a group of individuals.
"I told you not to talk about Hinata-chan like that!" Naruto snapped at the idiot shark who smirked at the blonde haired boy.
"I'm just saying what you're probably thinking," Kisame retorted smoothly.
For a moment I was taken aback by his smart comeback but then, remembering his countless arguments with Deidara, I realized that Deidara had once said that to Kisame. I had almost thought for a moment that he may have gotten that little bit smarter and more tolerable but…obviously he was just copying Deidara.
"I-I-I would never think about Hinata like that!" Naruto protested unconvincingly.
The loud mouthed girl waved a disbelieving hand at him before turning around to leave him. She then paused and turned back to him, lowering the bag, his bag, from her shoulder to the wooden floor. Again, my eyes narrowed at the sight of it and for a moment, something akin to fear raced through my being as I realized that they might have found the secret pocket where he and I kept our last conversation. My hand snaked up to my neck to pull on my coloured necklace twice before I let my hand drop. It had become something of a habit ever since Shisui's death and I found I couldn't quite stop it. I wasn't quite aware of when I did it but it did happen.
"Isn't that Sasuke's bag?" Naruto asked the girl curiously and she nodded.
"Yeah, it is. But, can you give it to him for me? He comes to see you more than he does me so you'll have more of a chance. Anyways, I can't give it to him with this thing behind me," She jabbed over her shoulder at me and I glared piercingly at her.
I could feel Kisame's gaze boring a hole into my neck and I ignored him, I didn't quite care what he thought about me at the moment. I told the girl bluntly, "You're wasting my time, if this is all you needed to do then go back to your quarters."
"You can't tell me what to do!" The girl snapped at me and I turned away from her, setting off at a quick pace.
I heard her squeak of protest as she realized that the whole magnet force necklace wasn't one sided and that I too could use it to my own advantage. She was yanked along behind me as I had been many times before and I revelled in the fact that she was finally getting what she deserved.
"Hey, hey, hey stop going so fast!" She yelled at me and I ignored her, opting to go even faster just to annoy her.
She began to run behind me, speeding up gradually. I ran even faster, I wasn't about to let this pathetic excuse for a medic-nin beat me when it came to speed. I could see her barely straining to keep out of the necklace's boundaries and as soon as her quarters with the blob shaped stain on the shojo screen came into sight, I slowed down the slowest bit, knowing that she wouldn't ever be able to beat me anyways. Much to my dismay though, she sped up suddenly and began to run at full tilt so I was yanked forwards suddenly and into an unbalanced sprint. My eyes narrowed at her and I began to run even faster, faster until we were neck to neck and both heading for the entrance at breakneck speed.
Unfortunately, we both reached the entrance at exactly the same time and the girl stupidly tripped over the short ledge that stood in the middle of the doorway. As she fell, she brought me down with her as she knocked into my back and the both of us ended sprawled up on the floor, a position unbefitting for someone of my status. If only I had my weapons; this girl would have been deader than the other annoying ninja before her. My leg had somehow managed to get lodged in between hers, her head had hit my chest rather forcefully and she leaned against my chest, trying to recover from her fall. My head began to throb and I guessed that this was probably what she was feeling.
The sudden urge to vomit was unexpected and I all but threw her off of me. I heard a loud bang as she hit the wall and, although my back began to hurt like someone had just decided it would be fun to dump a shipload of bricks on my back, I made my way over to the window and stuck my head out of it. My red eyes became focussed and unfocussed as I tried to settle my wretched stomach by staring out at the green.
"Urgh…ow…" I could hear her grumbles of protest as she began to stir.
I began to relax and she snapped at me, "What was that about? Throwing a woman against a wall, you are a rude, rude, rude jerk!"
I looked at her sideways and turned my head quickly back to the greenery, staring at it until I could make out every single fibre on the leaves. I retorted smoothly, "You are nothing more than a foolish girl."
"I'll have you know, I am a very respectable medic-nin and Tsunade-" She began to protest.
Her constant talking was making my head hurt even more and I needed to find a way to shut her up. I pushed off of the windowsill and walked towards her, lifting my hands up to grasp either side of her face firmly. She instantly recoiled from me but I kept my grip on either side of her face and pressed my forehead against hers. My dark red eyes bored into her green ones and just like that, all of her pride had disappeared in a flash. She shut up instantly and I could see the fear flickering in the depths of her emerald orbs, she was terrified of me.
She was paralyzed to the spot, so even when I withdrew my hands from her face and walked off; she remained where she was like a statue. Her jade green eyes were wide open and I took my seat on the windowsill, resting my back against a wall. My eyes closed and I tried to shake the feeling of illness, although I knew very well it was upon me.
Sakura
Night came and I stared at the half written report in annoyance. I had to write on my futon because Itachi was way too stubborn and refused to move from the windowsill. I have no idea what he found so interesting about it, it was just a freaking windowsill! The black characters were really messy and the paper had various pen holes and crumples. I knew that if Iruka ever saw this report I would get whacked upside the head with a ruler, or something to that extent. I eventually gave up writing the report because it had gotten near impossible to read and put it to a side, sighing.
"Eh, Uchiha-kun, what's up with you and that windowsill anyways?" I asked Itachi curiously.
For a couple of moments, Itachi pretended he hadn't heard me. I continued to stare at him and I knew it annoyed him.
"It is none of your concern," He retorted coldly.
"It's my windowsill," I snapped back and he ignored me, his face turned away from me.
I looked down at the unfinished report and sighed again, pushing it as far away as I could. I looked back at Itachi and saw his eyes flicker back to the windowsill; he had been watching me, even though he said I was very uninteresting!
"Whatever. I'm going to sleep so don't do anything that will wake me up," I ordered him and he ignored me, as usual. I doubted he would do anything loud anyways, he seemed the quiet, stealthy type. Then again, he also seemed like the sort of guy who killed for fun so…
"Good night," I murmured quietly and wasn't surprised when I didn't get a reply.
Hmph. Jerk.
-
I don't know what made me wake up first, the smell or the sound.
All I knew was that it smelt nasty, like a sewage pipe, and it sounded really, really, really gross.
I shot up out of bed and covered my nose instantly, "Urgh, it smells like crap in here…"
I looked up at Itachi, who had taken off all of his clothing except for his pants (thankfully). His discarded clothing was thrown around the room and he was staring out of the window with glassy, yellow eyes. I could see the sweat on his body glimmering in the moonlight his slight trembling. His fists were clenched in an attempt to hide his condition.
"Uchiha-kun?" I called his name quietly and stood up to walk to his side.
My voice didn't seem to register in his mind and he continued to stare out the window, at the greenery. I repeated his name four more times and began to grow worried; I had learned from the day I had spent with him that if you nagged him enough he would eventually answer. I shut the window but his gaze remained fixated on the dull white window screen.
His mouth began to form soundless words and I watched, transfixed, as his strong masculine mouth opened and closed. His hands were clutched around a beaded necklace hung around his neck and he was holding onto it as if his life depended on it. I couldn't make out anything he was saying and realized that he must have been awfully and terribly sick. I took his head of black hair into my hands, running my thumbs soothingly over his cheeks. It helped to calm my patients down and although he seemed pretty calm, his mind must have been in a lot of inner turmoil.
I gasped as my skin came into contact with his, he was burning up! He must have been sick the whole day to be like this; a fever this serious didn't just come and go. I growled something under my breath that would have made Tsunade proud at Itachi and sat on his legs in an attempt to get closer to him. I had no time to think about the position we were in, though if I had I probably would have blushed as red as a tomato.
"Come on, come on, come on," I hissed a mantra under my breath as I moulded cool green chakra to my fingertips to try and soothe his burning forehead.
When my chakra didn't have any affect, I cursed loudly. My gaze travelled to the pink watch near my futon and realized that I would have to move him on my own, seeing as it was about two in the morning and everybody was resting after the mission. I wasn't exactly in top form, bruised, battered and not quite altogether, after my ordeal with the Mangekyou Sharingan and all. Even so, I managed to somehow lift him and he simply slumped against me lifelessly; he was about as strong as a weed about now.
I lowered him gently to the floor and cursed, wondering how the hell I'd be able to get what I needed when it was more than five metres away. If I tried to get anything, I'd end up dragging Mr. Ungrateful with me and I didn't want to move him in the condition he was currently in. I cursed and bored a hole into my cupboard, as if simply staring at it would make it magically open. I stood up and decided to test how far I could go without being dragged backwards. Something suddenly pulled me back down and I realized that it was Itachi, gripping my shirt tightly. His closed eyes opened, ever so gradually, and he stared blearily at me.
His vision must have been working because if anything, he began to lean closer to me and he didn't let go of my shirt. I could see the wrinkles forming in my shirt because of his brute force and he asked me in a quiet, raspy voice, "Where's…Shisui…? Ayame-san…Ayame-san…where…"
I didn't know who he was on about, but all the same I gently took his hand and when I found I couldn't remove it at all, I murmured, "Uchiha-kun, please let go of my shirt."
"Ay…Ayame-san? Where's…where's Shisui?" Itachi asked me, his usually stoic and emotionless voice took on an almost pleading note as he pulled me down closer to him.
"Where's…where's Shisui? Ayame-san…" He repeated brokenly but then his eyes began to fog over.
His eyes closed and he fell still. Instantly, I set to work, resting my hands on either side of his head and concentrated on sending a constant wave of chakra through his being to try and regulate his body temperature.
It wasn't working.
I had no idea what to do, I was good when it came to healing but I hadn't ever been given a patient with something like this! The back of my throat and the corners of my eyes were beginning to burn uncontrollably and my hands shook although I tried my best to keep them stable. I didn't care what time it was anymore, I couldn't do this! Not with the amount of chakra I had and my current state of mind! I needed somebody else to do it, I couldn't do this on my own…he would…he could die if I didn't get him help.
My plea came out as a hoarse whisper the first time around, "Help…"
I let out a shaky breath and felt my eyes blurring due to the liquid forming in their corners. I screamed out louder, "Somebody, wake up!"
It was all I could do to keep my chakra flowing. I was nearly at the end of it and I couldn't, I wouldn't let him die. I couldn't do that…I couldn't lose another patient.
"Naruto! Sasuke! Someone, wake up!" I screamed loudly, my words barely distinguishable.
I was beginning to lose control of my chakra. I didn't have much left and it was leaking into Itachi like a sponge and water, I couldn't hold this up much longer! Why didn't they wake up?
"Hinata! Wake up!" I shrieked as loud as I could before breaking into a fit of tears.
I pressed my forehead against Itachi's and ignored the fact that my tears were dripping onto his face, gasping every now and again to take in some much needed breath. I continued to scream, though my words were akin to mangled screams, again and again.
And then finally, I heard the door roll open and someone take frantic footsteps towards me.
I resisted wildly as someone tried to pull me away from Itachi and screamed frantically, my mind crazed and all irrational thought thrown out of the window. However, the person holding me was strong and I had no chance against him. Eventually I broke down, slumping into this person's warm and toned chest and recognized the low, rough rumble of Naruto's voice as he spoke to me consolingly. I heard more footsteps and Sasuke's authorative voice reached my ears next; he was giving orders for Hinata to heal Itachi and take my place.
"No! I can't- I can't mess up again!" I screamed loudly and I could barely make out Sasuke's figure walking briskly towards me.
He took my face into his hands and pressed his forehead against mine, forcing me to stare into his pair of dark red Sharingan pinwheel eyes. Something about this seemed too familiar and too dangerous but my body was frozen up with fear, I couldn't move and I couldn't do anything. Sasuke's eyelids began to close slowly over his terrifying Sharingan eyes and I found myself captivated as his eyes opened and closed slowly…open…close…open…
Close…
A/N: I found the ending a bit random. Did you guys?
Anyways, Kisame and Naruto have finally come in. I'm trying to build a LOT on their relationship so...yeah. Cool, no? They're like the pathetic attempt at comic relief in this story. Hopefully Itachi's in character.
Selandora (the sickeningly emotional undeniably sexy one you must fear who finds that writing her signature takes forever)
OH YEAH! I'm looking for a beta so if you've got waaaaaay too much free time on your hands could you send me an email or a review or something?
and...
fanfictionfanart is very much appreciated. (is there such a word?)