Hello everyone! I hope you are enjoying the story so far! Thank you StarshipRanger7, kwisy, 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10, and Hatone-Kudasaki for reviewing! I enjoy reading reviews, so keep them coming! I'm so happy you all are enjoying the story so far and now, onward!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters, just those of my own design.

Chapter 7

"Kisame, put her down," Itachi muttered as he continued staring at Kikyuu.

The shark-like man grumbled as he sat the girl on the floor; however, he still kept a careful eye on her.

"Hey, Itachi. How do you know Kikyuu, hn?" Deidara asked.

The silvery-haired girl quirked an eye brow before smirking, "Oh? You haven't told them about me, Itachi? Would you like to share or should I?"

The man remained silent as he glared at her across the room. Kikyuu smirked again:

"Well, I guess I shall. You never used to be this quiet," she sat on a couch in the room between a masked man and an amethyst eye-colored man. She looked between these two and stated while extending a hand to each of them:

"Hi, Kikyuu, nice to meet you."

"Kakuzu," the mask wearer grumbled while shaking her hand.

"Hidan," the other replied, doing the same after his partner finished.

She nodded to them both before looking around, "Let's see, where do I begin? How about I make a long story short, eh? Itachi and I were childhood friends, very close, in fact. He trained with me quite often and I wouldn't be who I am today without his help. Such a shame to owe everything you are as a shinobi to someone you hate. Anyway, a few days before he slaughtered his clan, he came to me and kis-"

Suddenly, Itachi came and snatched her up by her arm and pulled her out of the room. The other members watched in shock and confusion before Hidan called after them:

"Get some, Itachi! Get some!"

Kikyuu blushed heavily before struggling against Itachi's grasp before blinking as she was tossed into a room. She heard Itachi enter behind her and lock the door. Quickly, she picked herself up off the floor and glared at the man:

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Itachi remained silent as he carefully removed his cloak and hung it on a nearby hook. He began slowly circling the young woman he once knew as he stated:

"You developed water release abilities."

The kunoichi scoffed, "Only to be able to counter your fire release. I didn't like the idea of my jutsus fueling yours."

The man smirked a bit before continuing, "And your strength and speed, it has improved."

She looked down to the ground and muttered, "That's what being in ANBU will do for you…"

This caused Itachi to pause before her, "You were asked to join ANBU?"

Kikyuu looked into her friend's blood red eyes, "They gave me your job… about a year after you left."

The man blinked at her before continuing to circle her, "And I take it your grandfather is well? In light of you abandoning him?"

The kunoichi's jaw clenched and she threw a punch at his nose, which he quickly caught as he glared at her. Finally, Kikyuu replied:

"My grandfather is dead. Watching me become an assassin for ANBU turned me into a monster in his eyes. I didn't become a shinobi that would make him proud; I became the shinobi that killed him."

Itachi's eyes widened slightly as he released her fist. He watched her turn and place her left hand on the wall as her right hand covered her mouth. He watched her shoulders shake slightly and he realized that she was crying. The young man sighed; he remembered how he always hated seeing her cry and extended a hand to touch her shoulder before she suddenly spun around, smacking his hand away as she exclaimed:

"Even after all this time, you still find a way to hurt me! I thought I had cried all my tears over you, and still! You find a way to make me do it!"

The man sighed, "Kikyuu-"

"No! Don't speak! Why did you bring me in here, hm?"

Itachi sighed, rubbing his eyes slightly, "You cannot tell them about us or about Sasuke."

The girl blinked, "I don't understand."

"Listen. These men are ruthless, anything they can use against one another, they do," Itachi stated, "if they knew how I felt about Sasuke… or even you…"

"And what is that, hm? I thought you made it pretty clear on that night that you didn't care about either of us! Just leave me be," she stated in exasperation.

Kikyuu turned quickly and unlocked Itachi's door before storming back out. When she entered the living room, Deidara was the only one left and the blonde looked at her, asking:

"Did that go well?"

"What do you think?" She replied harshly before sighing, gentleness returning to her voice, "Do you know where my room is? I just need to lie down."

Deidara nodded before standing and showing her the way.

The Uchiha sighed and locked his door behind Kikyuu before sitting down on his bed with his hands covering his face. A tear slipped out of his eye before he hardened his emotions and wiped away the offending moisture.

'Kikyuu… I wish I could make you understand…why I did what I did… but the truth is too painful… '

Around three a.m. that morning, Itachi's eyes flew open. He thought he heard a noise in the kitchen and he slowly rose. He moved to his door with a deadly silence, a kunai in hand. He moved down the hallway stealthily before spinning around the doorway and into the kitchen to attack; however, he blinked as he saw Kikyuu taking another shot of sake by herself.

The girl looked at Itachi and blinked for a few moments, "Yes?"

"Why are you up?" He retorted.

"Why do you care?" She asked, taking another shot.

The man sighed and sat across from her, "You drink now?"

Kikyuu chuckled, "I'm surprised you don't. I've found recently it helps me sleep and forget things that cause me pain."

"Like me?" Itachi asked, eyeing her carefully with his sharingan.

She blinked before looking away from his eyes, "It's strange…"

"Hmm?" He hummed, curious.

"I told myself every day that whatever it was that we felt was just a lie… a game you played with me to piss off your father. However, when I close my eyes at night… I briefly dream that I'm in the body of that four year old who befriended you by the lake that day…and something tries to convince that it was real… and I awake crying… The dreams stopped a year ago… especially the good ones where I conversed with my parents…. Nightmares took their place…living and false… When I saw you today and we had our conversation… I dreamed tonight… I was that little girl again…" she paused and wiped the tears beginning to form in her eyes, "and I awoke with the painful realization that no matter how hard I tried to convince myself otherwise… I still cared for you… that I never stopped loving you…"

She quickly stood and threw away the empty sake bottle while setting the cup in the sink; her legs wobbled beneath her slightly as she turned and looked at Itachi.

"Well?" She asked.

The young man stood and strode quickly over to her. He reached up and caressed her cheek gently as he spoke softly:

"You cannot love me until you understand me."

The girl scoffed, "No one could do that then and no one could do that now. I'm just a fool."

She pushed past Itachi and headed towards the door before she stumbled slightly. The Uchiha moved quickly and caught her before she fell hard to the floor. Kikyuu blinked as she looked at Itachi with curiosity and squeaked softly when he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to his room.

"What are you doing?" She asked a little too loudly for his liking.

He didn't respond until he entered his room again where he deftly locked the door before laying her down on his bed. He hovered over her for a moment before lying beside her and holding her close.

"I," he whispered, "am showing you that I still care about you."

Kikyuu's eyes widened before she pressed herself close against Itachi and cried softly into his chest until she drifted to sleep.

The next morning, Kikyuu's golden eyes slowly opened. She blinked several times before sitting up and looking around. Her head felt as if it was splitting open and she knew that at least the drinking she partook of last night was real; however, she found herself in her own bedroom.

'I must've… dreamed everything else… but, why don't I remember walking back to my room?'

There was a hard knock on her door that was followed by the gruff voice of Kisame as he stated:

"Kikyuu, get up. Leader-sama has a mission for you, Kakuzu, and Hidan. He wants you three to leave immediately."

When she felt the man's chakra disappear as he walked down the hallway, the kunoichi climbed out of her bed and quickly made it before changing into her typical attire. She walked to the door to head to the bathroom to finish freshening up and was surprised when she found the door to be unlocked.

'Either I made it back here myself and I didn't lock the door…. Or someone brought me back here at some point… Did Itachi really do that last night?'

She shook the conflicting emotions and thoughts from her mind before exiting her room.