Heaven's Rain
Before you I didn't know I could love someone this much. ItaNaruIta
A/N: What was a one-shot sitting in my computer is now on it's way to become a fully-fledged novel. Additional tags will come later. There are a few.
Chapter One:
Encounter
"Hello?" I call, stepping into the store. I look around the store dubiously. It's wide and spacious but it looks more like an office than a place that houses what I came here to buy. But Sasuke gave me this address, so here I am. I look around the store. To the right are wall-to-wall bookshelves laden with manga and novels that seem like they are calling out to me. Opposite the bookshelves are a couple of sofas probably for people to sit and read. I am just about to take a step towards the manga when the owner walks out from behind a door.
He is thin and he looks about 5'10. His hair and face are characteristically Japanese, and he's dressed in a cream-colored shirt with dark trousers that make him look attractive for reasons I can't define.
"Yes?" the owner looks at me, the shine in his black eyes dimming the moment they land on me. It is a gaze I have grown to know well, ever since I came to Japan.
A foreigner, that's what they think when they see me. It makes them nervous because they cannot speak my language fluently. It makes me nervous because it makes me realize that I can't speak their language fluently at all.
Our fears are two sides of the same coin.
I put on my best, comforting smile, dying a little inside as I form a sentence in Japanese to speak to the man, and cannot remember the correct verb. "I, uh, my friend told me about this place," I begin, clearing my throat to buy a few precious seconds. "I, uh, came to buy a second-hand bookshelf…" I trail off, unable to continue, the word dissolving on my tongue as all the verbs that could be used next fly out of my mind. The sentences that have come out of my mouth are a culmination of Japanese and English and I wince at how terrible they sound.
The man, however, seems to understand. He nods at me. "Sasuke sent you?" he asks, his thin brows furrowing slightly but not in confusion. "You're Naruto-kun?" he peers at me for a moment.
When I nod, his thin lips stretch into a smile some relief flooding in, and I find myself smiling back. He gestures to the back of the store, towards the same door from where he'd emerged earlier. "Follow me," he says, speaking slowly. His voice is soft and professional, and I find myself walking behind him.
His hair is tied back in a loose ponytail that softly swishes each time he takes a step. He opens the white door and turns on a light and shifts sideways to let me enter. "The bookshelves are to the right," he says, gesturing with his right hand, undoubtedly for clarity and I nod in understanding. I look at the vast garage-like space filled with furniture and home appliances and then at him as he turns towards the door. "I'll be at the counter," he says, pointing back to the desk stationed in a corner of his office. "Call me if you need anything," I nod again, and he's gone with a soft swish of his ponytail.
I look around the place, wondering if I should have brought my friend Kiba with me, since he said he needed a refrigerator and a microwave. We are both in the same program as exchange students for a year and are neighbors in the dorm. Though we have both studied the language for two years back home, we are both awkward and fumble a lot while speaking. I sigh, as I walk to the right to examine the wall of furniture to select one for my room. Looking at the price tag is somewhat reassuring. They seem reasonable as compared to the prices of the brand-new shelves I saw in the university store. I fall in love with one which is made of dark wood and looks ancient and just right, but it is extremely heavy not to mention expensive. To top it off, I live on the fourth floor, and we don't have an elevator in my building, so carrying it up those stairs is going to be murderous. Besides, I don't even know if this guy will deliver the stuff to my place. Finally, I settle for a steel shelf that looks like it can be torn down and reassembled and costs eight thousand yen.
I dawdle around for a few more minutes, poking at things, looking around in case I see something more that I might need before I make my way back to the counter. That man with the ponytail is sitting there and reading a book, the kanji characters of which I can't read. I clear my throat once again to catch his attention and say, "Um…," his eyes cut to me for a second and then he turns back to his book. He puts a bookmark in his book and stands up with a grace I am sure I'm incapable of. He walks towards me, with the professional smile back on his face.
My mind falters again. "Er, I, uh, I've selected my bookshelf," I stammer, my ears turning red. He nods, walking past me towards the storage space again. "Can you send, I mean, bring, uh, deliver it to my place?" I can feel my cheeks heating as he turns to look at me, his brow furrowed in confusion. I point to the steel shelf I want and then look at him expectantly.
His eyes move from my heated face to the furniture, and he nods. "You need this to be delivered to your place, is that right?" he asks, and I nod almost frantically, relief painted all over my face.
He nods, turning around to go back to the office. "When do you want it delivered?" he asks, walking ahead of me.
"Tomorrow is fine," I say, walking up to the counter. I watch him pull out a file and then a sheet of paper from it. He searches around for a pen and then hands me the sheet of paper and the pen. It is a form, and I am supposed to fill it. Relief floods through me when I see the English alphabet, writing down my name and address quickly and filling in the other requirements.
He asks me the time when I will be available and writes it down with a pencil on top of the paper. His long fingers are bony and his handwriting elegant when he pencils in the timing. "That will be eight thousand yen," he says, putting away the paper as I hastily dish out my wallet.
"Are you related to Uchiha-kun?" I ask before I can stop myself.
The owner looks at up me sharply and then looks down. "Yes, I am his elder brother. Didn't he tell you that?"
I bite my lip, shaking my head in the negative. My gaze lingers for a second longer at the face of Sasuke's elder brother. I am beginning to see the similarities between both brothers.
I clear my throat again, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto," I blurt out, putting my hand out for a handshake.
Uchiha-elder eyes my hand for a moment and then clasps it in a handshake, smiling slightly. A jolt runs up my hand from the contact as his warm hand clasps mine briefly. I have a sudden urge to hold on to it. "I'm Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's elder brother." He says, introducing himself and withdrawing his hand. "How do you know my brother?" he asks, his face the same mask of polite curiosity.
"We share the same class," I say, scratching my head. "Business Japanese," I say, for further clarification.
Itachi nods in understanding and smiles. The smile softens his features and makes him look younger than he did when I saw him first. For some very strange reason, my heart skips a beat. I look down quickly and work on taking out the right bills to pay him, my hands shake slightly in nervousness for an unfathomable reason. He takes the bills and counts them quickly, jabbing a couple of buttons on the register and then quickly tearing off the receipt to hand it to me.
I turn towards the books and then back to him and hook a thumb over my shoulder. "Are those books for sale?" I ask, jerking my hand back to take the receipt from Itachi.
His gaze flits towards the shelves of books and then comes back to me. "No, they're not for sale but I lend them to ardent readers." He pauses for a second and I can feel his gaze on my face. "Do you like manga, Uzumaki-kun?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.
I look up at him, beaming. "I love manga. I've read almost everything from Chainsaw Man to Slam Dunk to Dragon ball Z to City Hunter to Black Jack," I say with a hint of pride I just cannot hide.
"In Japanese?" Itachi asks, lifting both his eyebrows. Immediately my pride is torn to shreds. True I've read almost every shounen comic there is, but only in English. It's not like I haven't tried reading them in Japanese but getting stuck on a kanji and having to continuously look up words and their nuances on the internet kills the joy. It's like I'm constantly lost in translation.
Itachi chuckles, and honestly, ever since I've come to Japan, I realize that Itachi has become my favorite person. "You'll get there," he says. He looks at the shelves of books as I busy myself stuffing the receipt into my wallet. "Would you like to give them a try? This time in Japanese," Itachi asks much to my surprise and excitement.
I nod eagerly and Itachi pulls out an index card and hands it to me with a pen and taps on it for me to fill. It requires my name and address which I fill eagerly. He points towards the manga and tells me to choose the volumes I would like to read. He tells me that at a time I can borrow up to five comics all of which will have to be manually added to the index card that he's made for me.
My greedy eyes rove over shelves and shelves of manga I've come to love so much. My tongue pokes out from the corner of my mouth as I furrow my brows and contemplate the manga series, I would like to dive into first. At the counter, Itachi waits with the patience of a saint. Finally, I settle on Dragon Ball Z and bring in the first five volumes and lay them on the counter as gently as I can. Immediately, Itachi gets to meticulously writing down the titles of the manga I've borrowed. He follows this action up with filling in the date. He slips the index card into a drawer and hands the books to me once he's placed them in a plastic bag.
"Have a good day," he says, once he's done with everything, pushing out the bag he's placed on the counter for me to take.
I glance at him and then at the bag down, before looking up again at him. "Do I not have to pay anything?" I ask, unconsciously patting the pocket where my wallet is kept.
Itachi shakes his head in the negative. "Think of this as service," he smiles a genuine smile at me, and it warms my insides. "But keep the books well. They're precious to me," he breaks off the eye contact almost immediately and gets busy in picking up the bag to hand it to me.
"Thank you. Good day to you, Uchiha-san," I say, taking the bag from him. My heart jumps when our fingers brush and it makes me slightly unsettled for some reason.
"Your bookshelf will be delivered soon," Itachi calls out and I can only nod in acknowledgement because my ears are heating up and my face is on fire and heart is almost ready to jump out of my chest when the automatic glass doors open.
I hastily exit the shop.
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