Dreamcatcher

By Airyo

This Lonely Fortress - 7

Itachi stared at toad summon on his desk.

...they did what…?

"So...I'm gonna go now…" the toad croaked nervously. He dispelled himself before Itachi could.

The Uchiha heir shook his head. He will think on vengeance later. He teleported to the Edge, where Hinata had already waited for him for nearly half an hour. He found her aura quickly. She was outside, hiding from the bulk of the crowds of the night. Itachi wondered if he should have brought an extra coat - hers looked far too thin for the falling temperatures.

"I need to explain," he said as soon as she turned to him. "Whatever communication you thought you received from me regarding this...it was not my doing."

Hinata looked up. There was something about her expression that chilled Itachi, far more than the cold autumn night.

"I'm aware," she said. She looked down on her hands. "I'm only here for convenience because I wanted to talk you."

"Would you want to step inside?" She was shivering, but she shook her head, her dark hair hiding her face.

"I will loose my nerve, if there is delay, so please don't say anything until I'm done." Hinata exhaled slowly, her breath fogging in a long curling stream. She scrubbed her hands together and looked at him straight on with guarded eyes.

"I may be falling for you, Uchiha Itachi."

He stared at her, speechless even if she hadn't asked it. Discomfitted, she looked back down at her feet.

"I'm falling for you, and that can not be," she clenched her fists. Her scars stood out, stark and white. "Maybe I'm presumptuous, maybe I'm overthinking it, but the next step...the next step is love. I think you know loving and being loved." Hinata voice was softer than a breath, but Itachi listened. Because he was too shocked to do much else. Because somehow, he knew this might be more important than anything else she might ever say to him. "But I don't think you know love."

Her next words became a tumble of thoughts, until not even she could control the momentum of truth and half-truths behind them. "Most things in life are probably better in practice than in theory, but reckless, thoughtless love isn't useful to anyone. And I can't but be afraid that love that happens by accident can't last, because it can just as accidentally fade. So it requires more than just the heart. I have to believe that love is in the heart and mind and soul and every part of you that you can give and then some. It has to be a whole, deliberate choice."

"Hinata…what are you saying?" All the clues, all the hints - they were coalescing into an awful, heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

She glanced at him, and then her eyes darted away just as quickly. She hugged herself, until for a moment, she seemed to fade away. "It has to be a deliberate choice," she reaffirmed, more for herself than him. "Since you can't reciprocate that, I...think we should cease this farce."

Since you can't reciprocate that...

She looked up with heartbreak eyes - heartbreaker, heart-breaking, heartbroken - and smiled politely.

"You have a good night, Uchiha-san."

She bowed, and left him frozen in the pale streetlight, with her voice still ringing in his ears like the toll of a great bell. Ringing, ringing, and heralding an earth-shaking revelation.

AN: I am aware they are both idiots.

.

.

.

P.S. Also, chapter 69 (hurr hurr hurr) requires something special...so a mini-omake, dedicated to yusav, alee26606, and Ibiki's "homework" assignment.

Kakashi scratched his head. He wasn't that sick, but Ayame had insisted that he take medication. Perhaps this was a side-effect of medication plus sleep deprivation? It was an ungodly hour in the morning.

"Come again?" he asked blearily.

"Kakashi, I need to borrow your adult fiction collection," Itachi gritted out.

The famous Copy-Cat lifted his forehead protector, Sharingan spinning skeptically. Hmmm...this wasn't some sort of genjutsu cooked up by Team 7, was it? After the whole scandal that erupted from his relationship with Ayame, Naruto had taken personal insult and embarked on a grueling campaign against him. The slew of pranks had petered out...unless that was part of a deeper plan. Underneath the underneath, after all.

"But...why?"

Itachi glared, expression frozen in one of do-not-ask-on-pain-of-Mangekyou. "I prefer to not leave my mark in the records of the bookstores. As for my personal reasons…that's classified."

Kakashi shook his head. "I don't believe you, Fake-Itachi-san."

"I am not fake," was the stiff reply. "I only require one book, and -" He broke as he felt the approaching chakras of ANBU. "What did you do?"

"Konoha has a strict policy against infiltrators," Kakashi said with an eye-smile. "Though I commend you for your - ah - creative disguise, Uchiha Itachi would never ask for my porn. That's about as likely as him doing the chicken dance."

The impostor's eyes widened with some akin to fear in his expression. Yup, definitely not the real thing.

"Hatake, you misund-"

Kakashi shooed him away with a large yawn. "Make your excuses to Ibiki, our Head of Torture and Interrogation." Then he shut the door in the imposter's face.

Secure in the fact that he'd foiled another devious plot by enemy nin and kept Konoha safe for one more day, Kakashi returned to bed, kissed his wife and child, and went back to sleep.

AN: Guys...I think I'm accidentally writing a whole other fic inside this one. Fanfiception, it's happening. Halp.