Itachi woke up that morning, a smile on his face. He had had a nice dream that night.
In his dream Tsunade had found him and begged him to come back, where he was treated as a hero. Then Sasuke came back and forgave him.
Itachi sighed. Yeah, it was definitely a dream.
He sat up on his bed and got out with a stretch. He sat at the edge of his bed for a bit before standing up. He went over to his dresser and picked up his ANBU clothes, the only clothes he had since the day he left. "Need to get more clothes." He thought.
He got dressed, buckling his sword to his side and tying his headband to his head. With an habitual glance at his surroundings, he headed out.
Sunlight filtered through the leaves of the gigantic trees, giving the whole village a green hue to it. It looked rather nice, actually.
Itachi suddenly tensed. He felt a presence behind him. It was neither malevolent, nor was it benevolent, but Itachi had learned that you never take a chance. He silently and slowly put his hand on his sword hilt. The presence stepped closer. Itachi could almost feel its breathing on his neck. It was so close.
Suddenly, the presence was gone.
Itachi's grip on the sword loosened. Whoever it was didn't mean any harm, or he would have done something.
He moved towards the long rope ladder that was connected to each house, and slowly made his way down, until he heard the sound of paper fluttering in the wind. He quickly located the source of the sound, and found it to be his own back. He deftly reached back for it, using only one hand to hold onto the ladder, and pulled a sheet of paper off his back. It read, of all things, "Kick me, I'm a jerk."
Itachi blinked. Whoever it was that was up there on the balcony with him was either insane or had a score to settle.
He looked back at the paper.
Probably insane.
A figure in the trees laughed silently to herself. "It seems Weasel-kun needs to watch his back better."
Itachi walked the streets of the Haven, surprised to see that many of them had smiles on their faces, and the smiles didn't disappear when they saw him.
It seemed strange, especially since earlier, those same people scowled at him when he first arrived.
Apparently, the Mark was enough to get you into any 'in' crowd here.
The packed dirt road was lined with shops on either side. Each owner was hawking his wares, everything from fish to scrolls on jutsus, which really surprised Itachi that they would sell their jutsus.
He found a clothes shop not too far away and bought some new clothes, including a black trench coat, black pants, red tee-shirt, and black, steel-tipped, leather boots. He then went further down the street and bought more clothes, including a large, brown, broad-brimmed hat, that he just couldn't resist, and a large belt that had two parts to the crossed over each other.
The whole set up reminded him of a movie that had been imported years ago from the far west. He could barely remember the movie, but he remembered the good-guys clothes and how cool he looked. He might as well try the look out.
Especially since after wearing the Akatsuki cloak, which didn't leave much room for expressing creativity, he would try anything. Maybe even Naruto's orange jumpsuit.
"Uh…scratch that. Almost anything."
With a couple of quick handseals, he created a shadow clone, which took his clothes home, before continuing his walk around the Haven.
The Island, as he had learned it was called, was approximately nine kilometers wide and 12 kilometers long. It was also surrounded by water that was filled with chakra, which caused the mist to come up after long periods of being undisturbed, but, when the water is stirred, by either the ferryman's paddle or a hand swishing through the water, caused the mist in the whole area to condense.
Itachi smiled to himself, "Yeah, being trained to be an ANBU definitely has its perks."
He continued on his path, passing several more shops and a few swimming area, where the lake water was open to the public.
As Itachi walked around, he found that, despite everything that was against him, Naruto was one of the better leaders he had ever seen. His understanding of Outcasts has made him popular with the rejects, which, banded together, made one of the greatest forces in the whole world.
Itachi smiled, he'd love to see that idiot Pain try his luck against this village.
He kept walking, passing the gigantic council tree, and coming to a jewelry store. He watched for a small while, watching the jewelers make the diamonds and rubies through some forsaken bloodline. He watched them make beautiful, flawless stones, and then carefully set them in molten gold.
"Nice, huh?" A voice said in his ear.
His eyes went wide.
It was her voice. He quickly began looking for the origin of the voice, but he didn't find her. Up, no, down, nothing, left, no one, right, clear, behind, air, ahead, only the shop.
He shook his head.
It couldn't be, he had seen her die, he had watched with his own eyes how she fell down that cliff all those years ago. No one could survive a fall like that.
Could they?
She smiled evilly. She loved to mess with his mind like this. It was probably in her nature somewhere. Still, it was fun to watch him suddenly jump and look around him frantically.
"Let's play a little longer, Weasel-kun."
Itachi wasn't sure if it was the pressure of being forced to the image of a killer finally catching up to him, or whether finally releasing all of the pressure was to blame, but he knew, he was losing his mind.
"There's no way it could be her." He told himself, "You're hearing things."
He calmly walked down the street, doing his best not to like he was going nuts.
He suddenly passed an alley.
His mouth dropped.
He could almost swear he saw her standing there. But the only thing that stood there was an electric pole.
His step quickened. He was losing his mind! He needed medical, psychological help!
"Going so soon, Weasel-kun?" he heard her voice again.
He ran harder.
A thousand of illogical thoughts ran through his head. Maybe he was being haunted. Maybe he had died, and the Haven was really a twisted version of Hell that made you think everything was alright before making you go crazy. Maybe he had found a way to hear spirits of the dead.
He knew that none of them were right, but he couldn't tell if they were wrong.
He suddenly turned the corner, and ran smack-dab into a tree.
He was unconscious before he hit the ground.
"Weeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaasel-kuuuuuunnnnnn…Weeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaasel-kuuuuuun…" It was her voice.
Was he happy to hear it?
Maybe.
"Weeeeaaasel-kuun! Weasel-kun! Weasel-kun!"
Itachi opened his eyes as consciousness returned.
He saw two deep green eyes.
He sighed, closing his eyes. "I'm either in some asylum somewhere or I'm dead."
Felicia smiled. "Well, if you're dead then can you say you made the most of life?"
"No. I just now made it to a place where I can live in peace and then you kill me."
Felicia smiled mischievously, "And what makes you think I did it?" she asked innocently.
Itachi knew from experience that Felicia was never innocent. "Kick me, I'm a jerk?"
Felicia smile mischievously. "Well, Weasel-kun," she said, changing the subject, "I hate to break it to you, but you're not dead."
"Great, asylum." Itachi said.
"No, you're not there either." Felicia said, "I'm afraid you're perfectly sane."
Itachi looked up at her, some memory deep in the recesses of his mind coming back to the surface. "Let me guess, 'It's in your nature.'"
She smiled innocently.
Again, Felicia never is, was, or will be, innocent.
Itachi groaned exasperated.
Naruto smiled as he walked down the street of the Haven.
People were smiling, laughing, and feeling accepted: just what he had hoped for.
His sensitive ears picked up the sound of two familiar voices talking. His eyebrows furrowed. He never pick those two to hit it off. He decided he'd go see what this was about.
With a quick shunshin, he appeared in front of a log, where two people were sitting and talking, namely, Itachi and Felicia. "So, we have a Weasel and a Cat. Something tells me you should be at each other's throats." Naruto said as he stood in front of them.
Felicia smiled, "Oh, we past that stage years ago."
Naruto raised his eyebrow in confusion, waiting for an explanation.
Itachi obliged, "I met Felicia about three weeks after my 'mission.' It was probably the only thing that kept me sane."
"Ah, ok, that makes sense." Naruto said, "So catching up are you?"
They nodded.
"Alright. Just don't break the bed or anything when you do each other."
Itachi blushed.
Felicia got a little ticked, "You're just jealous because you don't have a girlfriend!"
Itachi face-palmed. When he suddenly remembered something, "Hey, Naruto!"
"Yeah?" he asked, turning.
Itachi tossed him a small blue book.
"And this is?"
"The Mist's bingo book."
"And why do I want it?"
Itachi smiled. "Turn to page 45."
Naruto, confused did so until he came to the page. It had a rough sketch of a man wearing a hood and a mask. On the man's head was an Uzu headband. He checked the info.
"Name: N/A
Nickname: 'The Outcast'
Home Village: N/A
Known Jutsu: N/A
Other: Skilled with a sword and silent killings."
Then in big, bold letters it read at the bottom.
"Flee on sight."
Naruto smiled. "Nice."
Hinata walked down the street of the Haven, watching people go about their daily lives.
In a way, it reminded her of Konoha.
Or, at least, how Konoha used to be.
She sighed and shook her head, Konoha was filled with idiots, and they got rid of the one thing that made Konoha a good place.
She had thoughts these thoughts a million times, and right now, she just wanted to relax, so she pushed them away for now.
A small group of playing children came running past, playing a game of tag it would seem.
Hinata smiled as she watched them play and laugh. It was heartwarming after living in that shell of a village that is called Konoha.
She walked alone, watching the shop owners and the merchants try their best to get their items sold.
"Do you mind if I join?" a voice said nearby, she looked around for the origin, before finding Naruto. He was standing at the base of a nearby tree trunk.
She smiled when she saw him. "Of course you can." She said.
Naruto smiled as he walked up to her. "So what do you think of the Haven?"
"Oh, it's wonderful. Everyone is so happy and carefree, there's no need to worry about anything other than what's for dinner, and it's so safe here."
Naruto smiled, "Yeah it is, isn't it? I'm mean, sure it's no Konoha, but still."
Hinata's smiled disappeared; the name Konoha was enough to bring her into a depression.
Naruto noticed. "Hinata, what's wrong?"
She looked at him, he needed to know, he really did. "Naruto, ever since you left, Konoha has never been the same. It's…it's gone grey without you. No one cares about fun anymore, Kiba has grown too serious, as have Sakura and Ino, even Shikamaru has started becoming a mindless machine. Tsunade's losing her grip on control, and she can't find the right successor. Everyone had just become dull. The only one who has actually imporved from your leaving was my dad, and that was because he suddenly learned that you were Yondaime's son. It was a major wake up call to him." She looked up at Naruto, who was now staring directly at her, shocked at the news of his beloved Village. "Konoha has become a lifeless shell of what it once was. There really isn't much left to it these days that is worth protecting." She said, hoping he wouldn't take that last statement as a offense.
Naruto looked at her. Hoping, praying that this was some cruel joke.
Her clear, lavender eyes held no mischief, no malice, only the look of pain and regret.
It hurt him to know that. He sighed. "It's my fault isn't it?"
Hinata instantly told him otherwise. "No, no, no, no, no, no. Don't do that, don't blame yourself for this. When dad did that he was drunk for three days, don't blame yourself for that. These people need you to be strong. Don't become weak because you blame yourself."
Naruto looked at her, his own heart downcast. Then a thought struck him. He looked at Hinata again. Then he smiled. He liked this plan.
They continued walking, Naruto keeping the plan to himself, until the right time. As they walked, they came up to a large harbor-like pool. "Hey Hinata, Want to go swimming?"
Hinata nodded. "I would love to, but I forgot to pack a swimsuit."
"Oh, that's not a problem." Naruto said, pointing ahead of them to a shop that was a little down the road. "You can pick any suit you like."
Naruto led Hinata to the little shop, where she found enough swimsuits to cover the whole beach of the Island. She browsed through them, before coming up to a one-piece, lavender suit with dark blue patches around the sides and just below the neck. She loved it and bought it instantly.
When she had picked her suit, Naruto told her to go to her home to change, "Then meet me at my office, alright?"
"Alright." She said.
Hinata stood in front of Naruto's office door, and waited for him to come out. She was wearing her swimsuit with her pants over it, to keep from feeling awkward when she walked on the streets. She had knocked on the doorframe of the house a short while ago, on the doorframe because the only thing to serve as a door was a large cloth that hung from the top doorpost. "I'll be right there!" She heard Naruto yell.
She leaned back against the gigantic tree trunk and waited.
She did not need to wait long, because in a couple of seconds, Naruto came out, dressed only in an orange pair of trunks.
Hinata's eyes took one long look at him. Perfectly chiseled pecks, defined six-pack, huge arms. He was the epitome of physical fitness, and, more importantly, he was hot. Then she began to notice a couple of scars.
While scars weren't that unusual in the ninja world, they still blemished Naruto's ripped body.
Naruto turned to her. "So you ready to go?"
She quickly broke the stare she held with his body and looked up at his smiling eyes. "Of course."
Naruto smiled as he pulled out a three-pronged Kunai. "Alright, hold tight." He said, as he threw the Kunai and grabbed onto Hinata's shoulder.
"Eep." Hinata yelped, only for the world to disappear in a yellow flash.
They were in the air.
The thought just passed through her head before Naruto suddenly grabbed the three-pronged kunai he had thrown earlier, and threw it further away.
Another flash.
Naruto held onto Hinata for her life, knowing that if he let go, she would fall to the ground. He grabbed the Kunai again, and this time, after getting his bearing, threw the Kunai to the ground, where it dug deep into soft sand.
Another flash.
Hinata blinked.
Both she and Naruto now stood on a small island, not six meters long.
"Welcome to my private island, Hinata-hime." Naruto said. Suddenly realizing he had come up with a new familiar for her.
She blushed, taking in the familiar and the fact that Naruto still hadn't let go of her.
Naruto blushed as he realized the same. He let go of her, "So, yeah, swim to your heart's content. We won't be bothered by anyone here."
Hinata suddenly had an idea to spot the awkward moment. She pulled off her pants to free her swimsuit. "Race you to the water?"
Naruto smiled, "Of course, princess."
Naruto walked Hinata back to her tree house before throwing the Kunai home. He smiled as he hung the kunai next to a row of others exactly like it, before closing the secret compartment. He quickly changed into a pair of bed clothes, before getting into bed for his nightly, pre-sleep meditation.
The only thing on his mind was Hinata. Her smile, her eyes, her laugh. Everything about her seemed to cling to his mind and refused to leave. Finally, he surrendered and thought about her. Memories about her back at the training grounds all those years ago, flooded his mind. He smiled as he remembered her blush. "She looked so cute when she did that."
Naruto suddenly sat up. "Did I really just think that?" He blinked a few times. "Well, then again, is that really out of the question?"
The more he thought about it, the more he could imagine a future of them together.
"Hm, maybe I should get to know her better."
He smiled, before yawning and shifting to a more comfortable position before going to sleep.
Sasuke sat in his room.
It was pitch black.
Only two names flew through his head as he sat there thinking. "Naruto. Itachi."
He thought about these two names. Naruto, the only one who could give him a run for his money back in Konoha. But that was years ago.
But then again, that was years ago. There is no telling how much he has improved.
Naruto would do anything to make sure he came back to Konoha.
Itachi, the man that killed his clan. The man that had destroyed his life. The man that had left him in the living hell that was the Uchiha compound. The man that had told him to hate. The man that was his brother.
Just the thought of them made his blood boil.
For the millionth time he renewed his pledge.
"I will kill Itachi, and if Naruto stands in my way, I'll kill him too."
End of Chapter.