AN: Brief note to all my readers out there- my Spring Break just ended so I don't know how regularly I'll be posting chapters of this now. I might keep up the pace I've had or I might slow down, in which case I apologize but school work (regrettably) comes first. Also, I would like to mention that I suck at fight scenes. I'll improve on them eventually, but until then I'll probably leave them a bit vague. Sorry.
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Red With Embarrassment
Inspired By Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto
Once more Itachi wondered if he was fortunate or unfortunate.
Getting discovered so soon after starting his mission wasn't good, and neither was the fight that had started up quickly afterwards. But… what happened after that? It wasn't so bad. Or at least, that's what Itachi thought. The others probably didn't agree though.
It all started with the fight itself. He had squared off against Kakashi, then Naruto, and then he had ended up with Hinata. That was when it got interesting. The battle against her never involved any Jutsu from the Akatsuki member's side due to him being too concerned to hit her and instead thinking of it as more of a training exercise. The Hyuuga, however, was using her full force.
She twisted and spun and struck, as agile as a wild cat and just as ferocious. Itachi could appreciate her determination and was rather impressed with her flexibility, but what stood out to him the most was her actual attacks. Some of them were the same ones she had been practicing when he had first stumbled across her, and he noticed with a certain amount of smugness that she had taken his advice to improve her technique.
Not that she knew it was his advice, but still.
Itachi slipped from his thoughts in time for Hinata to thrust her palm at him in an attempt to use her bloodline trait on him, attempt being the key word. Just as her hand was about to strike him he grabbed her wrist and spun her around, instantly disabling her attack. He finished what he started by grabbing her other arm and twisting it to be pinned behind her back with the other one before placing his arm over her front to pull her closer.
What resulted was her being trapped against his muscled chest- which, while covered by a loose cloak, was still clearly noticeable- with her arms held firmly by one of his hands and pressed to immovability at her back while his remaining arm wrapped around her front and holding her to complete stillness. She was stuck and her entire squad knew it.
But that didn't explain the odd looks that had appeared on their faces and the strange rigidness that had taken over the heiress's form. It was natural for a Shinobi to go stiff when they were captured and likely to be used against their team, but this was different. Hinata's posture was less "captured by the enemy" and more… embarrassed?
The Uchiha then noticed the completely red, mortified expression on her face. He glanced at her teammates to try to gauge their own unexplainable reactions. Naruto and the Kunoichi had allowed their jaws to go slack. The Inuzuka had frozen in his position of about to join the fight and help Hinata. Kakashi was just standing there, both eyes exposed, and both incredibly wide. The dark-haired ninja frowned slightly from the cover of his Akatsuki cloak, pondering their puzzling responses.
And that was when he noticed it. He realized that his hand had felt oddly cushioned, comfortably resting on a padded surface. Too comfortably and too padded. Just what was his hand touching? Her stomach- his intended target- wasn't that soft and pliable. What could…
His thoughts stopped as comprehension hit him.
No way.
No possible way.
He swallowed thickly and peeked over the still-frozen Hyuuga's shoulder, only to confirm his suspicions. Itachi Uchiha had, when he caught Hinata, accidentally grabbed her breast. Which was where his hand still remained. Quite contently.
No wonder Hinata had gone so stiff- she was probably trying not to faint!
With an uncomfortable clearing of his throat the Akatsuki member forced himself to remove his hand from her chest and lower it to her stomach, unable to do so much as apologize before the other Shinobi's brains had finally fully processed what had happened.
Naruto was the first to react, shrieking and lurching away from him, "Holy crap! Itachi's a closet pervert!"
"You creepy bastard! Let go of Hinata!"
That was Kiba, but Sakura quickly followed by covering her chest with arms with a scandalized look on her face, "You stay away from me or I'll hit you so hard you'll feel it for the rest of your life!"
The blonde Jinchuriki instantly turned to her and tried to be comforting in his own energetic way, failing drastically, "Don't worry, Sakura! You've got nothing to worry about in that area!"
The pink-haired girl's eyebrow twitched and Itachi winced slightly at what was to come. Barely a moment passed by before Naruto was lying on the ground, unconscious and unmoving and thoroughly beaten up by his teammate. Though he felt pity for the idiot the Uchiha knew it was his own fault for basically called her flat-chested… which she kind of was. Hinata however…
He forced his mind to take a U-turn from where it was heading, instead moving his gaze to check Hatake's response to all that had happened. To his mild relief the Copy Ninja didn't seem as accusatory as the others, having probably realized that it was an accident. Or perhaps he himself was such a big pervert that he knew he wasn't in any position to ridicule. Either was possible.
Sakura, being the first one to recover from her apparent disgust lunged forward with a yell, "Take this!"
The Kunoichi hit the ground with a Chakra-infused fist, forcing the earth beneath Itachi and Hinata to erupt jaggedly upward. The Akatsuki member easily leapt backwards, making it away from the attack and dragging Hinata with him to save her from it as well.
As he flew back through the air, with his back facing the ground and Hinata pressed even tighter against his chest with a yelp, his irrational side made its appearance again. Slowly and purposely his hands released her arms and each moved to embrace her, as if to keep her a little closer to him so he wouldn't lose his grip on her when they landed. Of course, at that moment, his hands slid smoothly up to get a grip on a more… specific… part of her.
She squeaked and they landed, him holding her even tighter to him as he skidded back several yards. Once they stopped he regretfully removed his hands from their newfound perch and instead moved them to her shoulders as he stood them both up straight. He whispered in her ear in response to rescuing her from her teammate's "friendly" fire.
"You're welcome."
And then he was gone, leaping through the trees at an astounding rate. He had just had to leave a mission early, fight a pointless battle, and done something highly illogical that leaned more towards the blunt word of stupid.
So why did he feel so ridiculously satisfied with himself?
~oOo~
"You're welcome."
Her pale eyes widened at the familiar words of the Akatsuki member, but she was unable to speak. Without another sound he disappeared before the dust could clear, leaving her stand in a daze until her squad would get to her. She didn't move, didn't think. Just stood.
And then the knowledge of what he had been touching on her before he had left finally clicked in her head, making her face flush a brilliant red.
"Whoops…" Sakura cringed from further up the road, realizing that she had almost harmed the sweet Hyuuga, "Hinata? Are you okay? You didn't get hurt, did you?" The blue-haired girl didn't answer from the rapidly thinning dust cloud. Instead, face a bright scarlet, she just stumbled and fell to the ground.
She fainted.
Both of the remaining Chunin bolted towards their fallen comrade in terror, yelling in concern while they did, "Hinata!"
Kakashi remained where he was, covering his Sharingan eye once more as he thought about the actions that had occurred. Itachi hadn't meant to grab Hinata where he had the first time, but the second time? Not so much. Just before the pair had become hidden within the dust cloud Kakashi had seen Uchiha make his move, and while he had disguised it to make it seem more like he was distracted by trying to not drop her the Copy Ninja knew that wasn't the case. This was because Kakashi, having known Itachi before he had left the village, also knew that Itachi never made the same mistake twice.
Ever.
Unbeknownst to his team Kakashi muttered silently, "You're slyer than anyone gives you credit for, Itachi."
