AN: i know this took forever! i'm sorry. i had a MAJOR plot problem, but now that's pretty much resolved so i should be updating more regularly. (well as regularly as my school schedule will allow anyway). Here is chapter four, i hope you enjoy it!
Thank you so much for being so patient!
CHAPTER FOUR
Itachi's breath hitched when she flashed him a brilliant smile, one so innocent and carefree he was envious. His gaze swept over her dark hair and long sooty eyelashes that waved up at him when she blinked under his scrutiny. Her pale eyes watched him with the untainted curiosity found in children and he wondered how she made it as a shinobi with such expressive eyes.
"I didn't think you'd be coming home today," Hinata said. You never would have guessed she was staring death in the face with the way she nonchalantly pushed his armed hand away and went back to the laundry basket in her arms. Her motions were slow, as though she were unused to the labor but his clothes came out in a neatly aligned pile with the Uchiha fan face up.
What was going on here?
He knew he should have run her through with his kunai. He didn't necessarily need her in good health to interrogate her but something about this situation just screamed that something wasn't right and that violence wasn't the way.
He watched with confusion as Hinata fluttered comfortably around his room, putting his clothes back in their proper place. Wary eyes watched as she moved from the closet to his dresser and then back to his bed where his laundry was laid out. She was bound to make a wrong move at some point. He took in the night gown she was wearing, it hugged her in a way that made it impossible to conceal weapons and he wondered exactly what she would be using to attack him.
"Can you disrobe please? I won't be able to wash your clothes if you are still wearing them." The Hyuuga Heiress said, she held the laundry basket in her arms and nodded to his clothes.
Itachi froze.
He was so frozen in his confusion that he barely registered Hinata's small hands as they unhooked his haori-himo, until she slid the fabric off his shoulders.
He raised a hand to stop her, only to have her take his kunai away and continue with undressing him. "Uchiha-sama, please allow me to do my job."
Her job?
The incredulity of the situation finally hit him. The Hyuuga Heiress, the closest thing Konoha had to a princess, was in his room undressing him and doing his laundry.
"If you can take off everything else, I would like to wash them all together." And then she disappeared.
It was very possible that his sleepless nights caught up with him. Whatever he walked home to could be a hallucination or even a genjutsu.
He put his hands together in a single seal, "Kai," he said quietly as he sent a pulse of chakra throughout the room to disperse any genjutsu. He looked around and found things the way they were a moment ago, his closet door was slightly ajar, his bed sloppily made and his boxer briefs were neatly stacked on top of his bed. Hyuuga Hinata was not an illusion. She really had been in his room.
The only logical explanation to this situation was his newly acquired bird summon and knowing Aoi's penchant for misinterpretation he would not be surprised to find that the bird was behind this.
"Aoi, I need to speak with you." He said to the air. He felt a little odd, but he knew that Aoi could hear him. How else would this mess have come about?
He thought back to what he said the night of his father's otsuya and how when he said that he needed the Hyuuga Heiress to "bow to him", Aoi could have very well taken that as a request.
This was not good.
"Aoi, I really need to speak with you." Itachi called again, a picture of calm that belied his inner turmoil.
With a flash of bright light, the blue bird appeared with a sponge in his wings. Soap suds lathered up in his feathers and crowned the bird's head in a tiara of bubbles.
"I got here as fast as I could!" Aoi cried. He took a wing and swiped at his eyes. "What can I do for you master?"
Itachi took a moment to realize that his summon had been bathing and shook off the absurdity of it.
"Please take a moment to make yourself decent." The Uchiha said quietly. He turned his back to the bird to give the avian a moment of privacy.
"Master is so kind! Aoi will only take one second!" Itachi heard water coming but was not surprised by the water droplets that sprayed right through him. Instead of pondering on how that was possible he planned out a course of action.
"I'm dressed now Master! I'm ready!"
When he turned back, the bird donned a bathrobe and a hair roller for his bangs.
Itachi chose to skip over the inanity of the situation and dove right for the questions he needed answered. "Is Hyuuga-san's presence in my home going to be a permanent thing?"
Aoi tapped his beak as he thought about it. "Nope, she goes home everyday just before sunrise. Is she doing a good job? Do you like her?" He clasped his wings in front of him as though saying a prayer and Itachi wondered if perhaps he was.
"This was not what I had in mind," he replied slowly. "Is there any way to reverse this?"
The auklet burst into tears in a display of ear piercing histrionics. "A wish made is a wish granted, those are the terms of the contract. I can't change it master, I'm sorry." Itachi winced when his summon pulled him into a back cracking embrace. "Please don't give me away master, I promise I'll be good!"
Itachi gasped for air and performed a seal-less kawarimi that replaced him with the pillow on his bed. His lungs expanded and he hungrily took in much needed oxygen. "Can you tell me the parameters of the request when you granted it?" he asked as he cleared his throat.
Aoi hugged the pillow Itachi switched with to his chest and hid his face. "I promise not to get angry."
The bird looked up, a hopeful smile on his goofy face. "You're the best master!"
"Thank you Aoi, what were the parameters of the request?" he asked again.
Aoi opened his beak to respond but before he had a chance, Itachi sensed Hinata's chakra as she neared his room.
"I'll speak with you later Aoi, I apologize for disturbing your bath." With that said, Aoi gave a sad bow before he disappeared in another flash of light and Itachi quickly began to undo one of the many ties of his formal outfit. The last thing he needed was for her to breach the borders of his comfort zone and strip him down to nothing herself.
"Uchiha-sama? Are you dressed?
"Just a minute," Itachi called out. His fingers worked quickly to unravel the long belt, but it was just never ending. There was a reason his father only wore his formal wear when there was a clan meeting, and Itachi was beginning to see it, even once a month was really too much of a hassle. Practiced fingers undid the numerous binds of the complex outfit and as he did this he realized that for the first time in his life he didn't know what to expect.
"Uchiha-sama, is everything okay? Do you need my help?"
His fingers worked even faster as he pulled his weapons from their hidden compartments, her voice sounded close, too close and her proximity was motivation to get changed as quickly as possible.
"I'm okay," He called back in response and he hoped that he sounded far calmer than he felt. His fingers moved faster as he rushed to untie the numerous belts that held his formal wear together.
"Are you sure Uchiha-sama?" Itachi had just finished pulling on a pair of pants when the Hyuuga stuck her head in to check up on him.
An awkward silence filled the air as the red on her cheeks turned darker and darker at the sight of a topless Itachi.
Itachi quickly grabbed the pillow off the floor where Aoi dropped it and shielded himself from her unwanted attention.
"I'm sorry, you didn't sound okay when I-uh." Hinata began pushing her index fingers together as she looked away from Itachi's undressed form. "I'm sorry, I'll wait outside! I'm sorry!" She bowed her head and bolted from the room. He locked the door after her and only then did he deem it safe enough to drop his pillow.
He felt his heart pound against his ribcage at his indecent exposure, in no way was it thrilling or did he have the desire to do it again. He felt thoroughly violated.
He grabbed one of the newly folded shirts and pulled it on over his head. He then took a deep breath and unlocked the door to face the still blushing Hyuuga who waited just beyond the oak.
He caught her gaze but felt his cheeks burn uncomfortably at the action and decided that he needed to do something before they stood there the rest of the night in awkward silence.
"I can go grab-" He motioned awkwardly back to his bed where he had neatly laid out his dreadful formal wear. He cursed himself for not having it in his arms to save the trip and just maybe this awkward encounter. Instead of waiting for a response he walked quickly across the room to his bed to grab his clothes along with a few well needed breaths.
Things were not going the way he had planned.
He had expected to come home and having to dust his bed off before going to bed. What he did not expect was to come home to a strange woman in his room prancing around in her provocative night wear as she did servant work. He did not expect her to undress him and least of all, he did not expect to have his modesty violated. But there he was, exhausted out of his mind, standing in his room, trying to figure out how to hand off his clothes without having to look her in the eye or her face. In fact he would much prefer it if he didn't have to speak with her either; if he could avoid any form of contact it would make his surreal day just a little more bearable.
Unfortunately, he was the Uchiha-clan head. He was well versed in etiquette and social niceties. He'd been performing them since he was able to string two words together in a curt, coherent sentence. It went against his upbringing to toss the girl his clothes and just walk off without so much as a thank you or a polite nod, both of which usually required eye contact.
He took a calming breath before he turned around to face his house guest and let out a sigh of relief.
The shaded light of the sunrise began to peak out from under the shades of his window. His shadow was cast on the wooden floor, just his.
She was gone.
.
.
.
Hinata sat up in bed and rubbed at her eyes with a fisted hand. Her lips parted in a tired yawn. How was it possible that she went to bed even earlier than she had the night before but she felt even more exhausted? Surprisingly, she felt more content with herself than she had in a long time, accomplished like she had done more with herself. She fought every desire to go back to sleep and return to her dream.
She furrowed her brows as she realized something troubling. Her dream, the one that made her feel so happy was starting to slip away. It seemed the more she tried to remember it, the faster it escaped her and she was left behind with a feeling that something was missing.
It left her in a rather sour mood.
She sighed and gingerly climbed out of bed to start her day, her ankle seemed to have swelled twofold over night and she didn't want to jostle it. She went through her daily routine in a trance. She hid her limp as best as she could as she walked through the halls of the compound. The branch members were the only ones awake at this hour and they bowed to her as she passed on her way to the kitchen. Even though it was below her, she made tea for her father every morning just like her late mother had done. It kept her anchored and her father never complained.
She prepared the tea as fast as she could, the last thing she wanted when she was irritable and exhausted was another chance encounter with one of the Clan Elders. Once the water boiled she poured the tea into a teacup and set it on a small tray to bring to her father.
Her steps echoed softly in the barren hallway; there was little light but she knew her father would be in the clan meeting room looking into clan affairs. It was where he always was at that time of day. Her feet padded silently along the cold tiled floor of the Hyuuga compound and she fought the shiver that went down her spine.
The door was open a crack when she got there and she was about to knock when she heard voices that didn't belong to her father.
"We would like to speak to you about your new proposal," Elder Takeshi started. "We need you to elaborate."
She stifled a gasp when her father her looked her right in the eye through the crack in the door and spoke. "What is there to explain? I'm abolishing the caged bird seal."
Her thoughts were racing a mile a minute at this new information. Her father was doing what she could only dream of; he was going to get rid of that wretched seal, she felt her heart swell at the news.
"You cannot be serious!"
"Do not forget your place, your role is to advise me!" Her father snapped, eyes burning with indignation. "In matters concerning the clan, my word is absolute."
"Hiashi, do you have any idea what this would do to the clan?"
Her father's eyes blazed in a way that she had never seen and she gasped at the sudden passion behind his usually shrouded eyes. "Do you?"
"Heiress, was there something you wanted?" one of the elders called out to her. "It is not becoming of someone of your stature to eavesdrop on a conversation that does not concern you."
Hinata slid open the door with one hand and sheepishly took a step in to the room. "I apologize for intruding; I only came to bring my father his morning tea." She kept her head low and glanced at the elders through her curtain of hair. She quickly made her way to her father's side and placed the steaming mug on his desk. "If you'll pardon me, I'll take my leave." She gave a low bow before she took three steps back and turned to leave the room.
Once she shut the door behind her, she let out a breath that she didn't know she had been holding. Whatever it was that she walked in to it did not bode well with her.
She slowly made her way back to her room as she pondered upon her father's actions. Her clan was as political as one could get. The clan was usually run by the clan elders and the clan head was just there as a figurehead. Her father would be the first to exercise his authority over the elders and there was no way that this would end well.
She saw her neatly made bed, one of the branch members had probably snuck in while she was out to make it. She fingered the comforter and felt tears of joy well up in her eyes.
Soon, they wouldn't have to be unseen. The branch and main house would be able to sit at one table and have their meals. The dividing lines of the caged bird seal would be gone and they would be a family.
Up until now it had been a dream. But dreams are called dreams because they're unattainable. She couldn't help but wonder if she was being naïve. Dreams were these amazing things because they were just that much better than reality. It was wonderful that her father wanted to do away with the segregation within her family, but there was just no way that the elders would allow it.
A cold shiver went down her spine.
Suddenly she wanted to go back to bed and back to that dream she couldn't remember. She had felt safe there.