Dreamcatcher
By Airyo
6
Everything made sense now.
Itachi had placed a genjutsu on her the one moment their gazes met. He'd used her to clear the market, and then made her the bait for the missing-nin, a distraction so he could sneak up to kill him. She had been nothing but a puppet for him.
She wouldn't have even remembered that much if he didn't want her to.
He was looking at her with those dark, slanted Uchiha eyes. The color was different, but the unreadable expression was the same as those of the Hyuuga.
In a flash of animalistic terror, Hinata hated him for using her so, hated him for taking away what little control she still had.
Hated him for making her do something that she wasn't strong enough to do herself.
And in the next moment, she forgave him, and hated herself for such cowardice. This wasn't a transgression between two ninja, where forcibly controlling a comrade was an implicit crime. He'd only done what he'd had to in order to minimize damage and take out a dangerous criminal.
"Hinata-sama," he began, startling her as he rose in a smooth motion. An untouched cup of tea marked his spot at the short table and Hinata found it far more interesting than the genius, Uchiha Itachi and heir apparent to the esteemed Uchiha clan. This was the man who was the youngest ANBU captain ever, Konoha or anywhere else. He'd already retired from that, only to go on and mentor the team eventually took down the Akatsuki single-handedly. Of course, Itachi made his own contribution by defeating Uchiha Madara, wiping away one of the greatest threats to Konoha in all of history.
It was horrifically rude that she snubbing him in favor of a cold cup of muted green tea, but she found herself reluctant to be controlled by the Sharingan again so soon.
"Uchiha Itachi-sama," she said flatly, automatically. "I welcome you to the Hyuuga estates. Please wait while I fetch Hiashi-sama." Hinata turned to go.
"I apologize for my actions this morning."
She paused and stared at the top of his bowed head. She blinked several times as she tried to take in what was happening. Then she flushed. Uchiha Itachi, a genius that was born only once every ten generations, was lowering his head to her.
"P-please don't," she whispered, as if a softer tone would stop her perfect, mundane world from shattering. Any acknowledgement of this exchange would catapult her into the realm of the unusual, the interesting. People would pay attention, and scrutinize and be let down, once again. "You did what you had to, so...please...please don't. Have a good day, Uchiha-sama." Her body jerked in a parody of a bow.
Then Hinata fled before Itachi could do anything more absurd.