A/N:Okay, so here is my attempt at Itachi. I honestly didn't like his character until recently, but after going to Wikipedia and getting some spoilers (I guess...) I realized what an interesting character he really is. So here's my attempt. I'm not sure how romantic it might be, nor violent. (Probably a lot more violent than anything) It might end up with a lot of flashbacks. I have no clue.

Sorry if he seems to be a little OOC, but this is how I think he'd be on the inside...if these circumstances were true.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, nor any of its characters. I do own the plot and other characters not in Naruto.

Dedications: To my friend in real life. She's the biggest "Itachi-is-WAY-sexier-than-Sasuke" fan I know of. Her 'codename' is Wolf Mistress Arcania

First Visit:

The Meeting

It had been a week since he had last seen Nakari's ghost in his room. He closed his eyes as he rested against a tree. It was time to relax before returning to the base from his most recent mission. The feel of the rough bark digging into his back was uncomfortable, but at least it reminded him that he was in the world of the living. His cloak was unfastened partway and his left arm rested half out of the opening. His right hand absently played with a bit of grass as he remembered...

Nakari blushed prettily as I took her hand. She looked away to hide her tined face but kept walking with me. I didn't mind, at least she was mine. I squeezed her hand and smiled briefly. She inched closer to me as we walked down the main street, eyes for no one but each other. I pulled her closer, chuckling at the startled noise she made. She turned liquid black eyes up to mine and I leaned forward to kiss her.

A small sound made me stop and I looked down. Sasuke's hand was just inches from my sleeve and he looked embarrassed for interrupting. I knelt in front of my little brother to meet his eyes, without letting go of Nakari's soft hand. I teasingly tapped the underside of my sibling's chin and asked him what the matter was. His answer was stuttering, but he told me that the leader of the village needed to see me.

I nodded and apologetically asked Nakari to take my brother home while I reported to the Hokage. It was so innocent of me...The very last innocent thing I did.

Itachi's eyes flew open when he heard someone nearby and stood swiftly. He had picked this place for its secludedness, who else would be here? His eyes pierced the air around him as he scanned his surrounding for where the noise had come from. He stepped away from the tree and heard the footsteps behind him.

Whirling around to face the intruder of his memories, he froze when his eyes landed on her. He wondered if he was, yet again, hallucinating. He blinked, she was still there with a mildly shocked expression on her pale face. He looked exactly like Nakari. Her long black hair was layered around her face, softening it gracefully. A layer underneath the short boy cut was long and hung down over her shoulders. It looked so soft. Itachi suddenly had an urge to sweep the hair off of her neck so he could rest his lips on the graceful curve of her neck.

"Oh!" Her voice was soft and surprised. A sly blush crawled over her cheeks as she met his eyes and she took a step back toward the foliage behind her. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone would be here." Itachi's heart quickened slightly. Her voice was similar, but different. It sounded...older, more mature. He took a slow step toward her.

"It's quite alright." He could almost hear the disguised purr in his throat. He wanted to face palm himself for that move. What was he thinking? She wasn't his Nakari, no matter how similar they seemed. "If you'll excuse me?" He walked toward her and gently brushed passed her. He needed to leave, and soon, before he found himself doing something that would get him slapped for sure.

"Don't go." Her voice made his heart pound as he halted in his tracks. He waited for her to give him a reason to stay. His body, of course, was listing off many reasons to stay in the very reclusive spot. He stood rooted to the spot, unable to walk away or to turn around and face her. He waited for her reason. "I didn't mean to disrupt your peace. I can find somewhere else." Her voice released him from the unnatural hold his body was in and he turned to look at her.

"No, I need to leave." His voice wasn't cold, but it was exactly warm either. He could almost see her flinch and instantly he started to reprimand himself. Not that it mattered, once he left he might never see her again. It would be better this way. Nakari is gone, and she won't come back to me. He left the woman behind him and quickly disappeared into the brush.

He rested once more outside of the Akatsuki lair. His mind wandered back to the woman that he had left in the clearing he sat in not too long ago. Who was she? Where did she come from? Those were only minor questions in his mind. Was she his second chance? Would he ever see her again? He stood and brushed the thoughts away harshly. He didn't deserve a second chance. Not from her.

He walked in and tossed the scroll at Pein when the leader looked up from the couch he sat on. Pein caught it and nodded to Itachi as the stoic shinobi passed him, ignoring his presence. Pein rolled his eyes but didn't care. Itachi was as he was. Nothing could change him from being quiet and emotionless as a rock. He couldn't even remember the last time the Uchiha had smiled. He watched him walk toward his room and awaited to hear the door slam shut after Itachi disappeared from sight.

Itachi stared at his ceiling, his thoughts muddling through his mind. He closed his eyes, hoping to get some sleep. He knew that he needed sleep, since the last few nights he was completely awake for the mission, and before that he wrestled with his insomniac-like tendencies. He knew that once he slept she would be there again. She was always in his dreams, ever since she had come to his room a week ago.

His eyes opened slowly. They were staring at a wooden ceiling. Everything was tinted a blueish silver. It was late at night and the moon shone through the paper sliding door that led outside. Sitting up he looked around. He was back in house old house. Everything around him screamed traditional Japanese setting. He looked down to find himself in a sleeping yukata.

Outside a wind chime tinkled softly. Itachi moved the blankets off of himself and stood. He had a feeling that he was supposed to be somewhere. That he had to meet someone. His feet moved on his own. He couldn't remember where he was going, let alone see. Once his door was opened, everything turned black. His feet knew where to go.

The inky blackness could not stop the sounds that came to him, nor the smells. He was outside in the late spring. It was warm and he could hear cicadas whispering around him. In the distance, a bamboo fountain made its steady tok, tok, tok. He felt the gravel under his feet, although the feeling wasn't painful or uncomfortable in the very least. He felt a cool breeze cut through the heat and blinked when he was a small pinprick of light ahead of him. He sped his pace, listening to the crunch of the gravel under his feet.

The pinprick of light grew bigger as he approached it. It took him a while to realize what it was. A lantern lit up a door behind a sliding paper door. He stepped up onto the small ledge that surrounded the house, not that he could see more than the door that appeared in front of him. He took a deep, calming breath and slid it open. Sitting on her futon, Nakari smiled up at him. She stood slowly and walked over to him, her arms outstretched. "I was wondering when you were going to get here." She smelled so good, like jasmine and water lilies.

He wrapped his arms around her, not wanting to let go. "Sorry, I had to wait for everyone to be asleep before I could sneak out to meet you, Kari-chan." She was soft in his arms and all over her gorgeous curves were pressed against the firm planes of his muscles. His lips found the top of her head, her temple, her cheek...His breath tickled her blushing face. "Can you forgive me?" These words sent a pulse through him. It was like he wasn't supposed to ask her this.

Something had changed. He could feel the body in his arms shrinking. He let go and pulled her back, only to see that she wasn't the Nakari that he had pulled against himself. This Nakari's eyes were milky white and shrunken in her eye sockets. Her skin was discolored and tight, almost wrinkled. "Itachi-san..." The voice was rasping. "How can I forgive...Itachi-san? How can I forgive you...for killing me?"

Itachi stepped away from the rotting corpse. The putrid stench of decaying flesh clung to his clothes as he stumbled backwards, away from her. He couldn't open the door, something was keeping it shut. He pulled on it harder, unable to turn away from the corpse shuffling toward him. His eyes widened as her bottom jaw came unhinged and eventually fell to the ground and turned to dust as it hit the ground.

Her claw-like hands gasped for him and he could smell the fetid breath that came panting out of her mouth. Itachi shuddered at her touch and wished that he could pull away more. Her bony hands slid up his chest and he was rooted to the spot. Her grasp found his neck and slowly began to squeeze the breath out of him. "What, Itachi-san? No kiss for your beloved?" She leaned her decomposing mouth toward his...

Itachi sat bolt-upright, a silent scream choked him as he rolled over on his futon. He gagged a few times and ran into his bathroom. He shook like a leaf as he clung to the rim of the toilet and dry-heaved until his throat was raw. Thankfully he was quiet enough that no one bothered him. He would have hated anyone to see him like this...haunted by the dead and loosing his grip on reality because of it.

He rinsed out his mouth at the sink and returned to his bed. He didn't sit on it. His obsidian eyes shone with hatred as he looked at the location of his worst encounters with his inner demons. Something told him that he wasn't going to get any more sleep that night. Maybe he might be able to rest enough if he sat and meditated...and he would definitely be less vulnerable that way.

He sighed and sat on his bed and looked at the small window that had a thick black curtain tacked across it to keep all light out. There had been a time when he was unable to sleep with any light in his room. Maybe this time he would need light to get a decent night's rest. He crossed his legs in front of him and folded his hands in his lap and let pale lids slid down over the onyx orbs.

A/N: This took a few days to write...and I didn't get many reviews (only two! -cries-) so the motivation was very lacking. I won't put the next chapter up until I have at least ten reviews (and I have enabled you people who aren't members to review...SO PLEASE REVIEW! Thankies!