Rain pattered on her umbrella as Hinata trekked up the stairs alone. Many times when going up or down these stairs, she wondered if she would step wrong and tumble down wrong. Maybe she was just thinking about it because she felt stupid for leaving her laundry out without checking the weather again, and she would rather go up these stairs four more times than wash her clothes again because she was too forgetful to do it right the first time.
Hinata tucked her umbrella in her arm while she came to her door, eventually giving up on holding the umbrella over her while she struggled. She huffed as the door finally opened, and she turned around to grab her umbrella and close it, and tucked it inside with her. She patted the water off her head. She almost got the whole way home dry.
Hinata shed her layers and turn on the kettle, sighing as she went to the balcony to get her soaked clothes, only to open the door to see the clothesline empty. Did she forget to put her clothes out? She padded to the washing machine only to find it empty. She could have sworn she did laundry.
The kettle screamed for her to return to it. Hinata closed the washing machine to tend to it. Maybe she had worried all day about the wrong thing. The kettle's squeal whined to a stop as she turned off the burner.
Before she could reach for a cup, her arm movement was restricted by the arms of an ash-scented coat being wrapped around her. "You're wet." Itachi hummed into her hair. He was the one that reminded her to take an umbrella. Maybe that should have reminded her of the laundry. Well, maybe not if she didn't wash any.
"I couldn't get the door open." Hinata wrapped her arms up to his. Itachi probably didn't know how much she loved this. It wasn't something he needed to do. It wasn't warm, but it was comfortable. It made her want to close her eyes and fall asleep on the spot.
Itachi laid his cold face into her neck, making her skin prickle, but her skin flushed with heat that would quickly overpower his chill. "You should call to have that fixed."
Hinata didn't want to bother the owner. "I have other things to do."
"Like take in the laundry?" Itachi hummed.
Hinata turned her head at him. "Did you bring it in?" Itachi didn't answer her. At least she knew now she wasn't going crazy. "Thank you."
"Hm." Was all Itachi answered.
Hinata closed her eyes with her face in a sea of fur. The sun was warm, streaming through the window, glittering in patterns left by the beads of water that were still left from the rain that only just stopped. Hinata could see why Akumaru spent all day in this spot. He could lay here and watch the whole world walk by without all the loudness of cars and people on their phones. Though he did have to suffer through the sounds of her vintage sewing machine, that sounded like it was trying to tear itself apart rather than bring fabric together, and whatever racket Kiba constantly made in the back room with his latest revival project. There wasn't a lot that came into their shop he couldn't fix.
But this big fluff never minded the noise. Akumaru laid and waited for his walks and his pets between projects like such a good dog.
"I need to get in on this." Kiba suddenly collapsed harder than he probably needed to on the other side of Akumaru.
Hinata giggled as Kiba buried his face in the white coat and flopped his arm over the two of them. "Did you finish?"
"I need to get some parts," Kiba grumbled. Hinata knew it was too early for him to be done fussing with one of his machines. "You want to go for a drink? You don't have to drink."
"No, thank you." Hinata hummed.
Kiba pouted but accepted her answer, giving his best friend a good scratch. "It'll just be you and me again, bud."
Itachi opened his arm to let Hinata curl up in her blanket under it. He thought she would have more to say about him being in her bed before she fell asleep. He knew she knew that he was there every night, but he had never felt the need to bother her while she was still awake.
Hinata snuggled down into her blanket and smiled up at him. "I'm not sure if it should be comforting having a reaper around when I sleep."
"Do you want me to leave?" Itachi backed up far enough to see her face.
"It was just a thought I had." Hinata dipped her head under his chin. "I guess I should have been more worried about having a reaper follow me around in general."
Itachi's eyebrows knit together. "Why weren't you?"
"You felt safe." Hinata hummed as she closed her eyes.
Itachi held her closer, and Hinata sighed comfortably. She was concerningly trusting of what she couldn't guarantee.
Itachi touched the head of the smiling lost soul. As it disappeared, his eyebrows knit together, showing that he was thinking the same thing she was. "How many was that now?"
"Too many." Itachi sighed.
Hinata was surprised he didn't answer her with an actual number. Maybe he was spending too much time with her. He was losing his reaper-logic literalness. "I wonder how they are finding me. Kisame-san hasn't been telling them?"
Itachi shook his head. "Kisame's approach to lost souls is more brute force."
Hinata frowned. As much as she did like seeing the lost souls go willingly, if the rotted soul that she encountered was what they turned into after too long, she understood going against their wishes to make sure they made it where they belong.
Not all the reapers had a human that could see ghosts at their disposal. "Ready to go home?"
Itachi held out his hand, and as she slid her hand into his, they disappeared.
Hinata curled her legs under herself as Itachi handed her a bowl but neglected to get his own. She wasn't sure if it was respect for her budget or that he genuinely didn't think to serve himself like she always did. "Did you give Hanabi-chan the fruit?" Hinata nodded her head at the shrine. She wasn't sure why she felt like asking, but it wasn't a zero-present possibility that it was a ghost.
Itachi nodded his head to lean in beside her. He gravitated toward her constantly. It wasn't all the different from when he was hovering from afar, only closer and closer until she wondered if he realized that he was doing it.
Hinata finished her bowl and set it aside to lean on him. Itachi's arm wrapped around her back to secure her there. She leaned her head back against his shoulder to look at her sister's picture. Would Hanabi like him? If she could see him.
… Could Hanabi feel the lost souls too?
Hinata sat up with the thought. She had had it before, but she had never thought about how it may affect her. Hanabi was struggling for a long time before she died. She called Hinata endlessly about her emotions running on overload. Was she being effect by the lost souls? And Hinata pushed her away because she didn't want to keep managing it?
"What is it?" Itachi wondered.
"I think I chalked up all that Hanabi-chan was going through as her not taking her medication even when she was telling me she was." Hinata felt gutted. Why couldn't she have stopped what she was doing and gone to her when she called?
Why did she have to make such an awful wish?
Itachi reached for her to fold her back into his arms. She covered her face as she crumbled. It was likely if one of them had this curse, the other did too. He still didn't know enough about the situation, but if he had to guess if the girl was being tormented by lost souls trying to get her attention, it could have been easily mistaken as her spiraling.
If Hinata didn't suffer in silence, she may have looked the same.
"You didn't know." Itachi knew that the words wouldn't soothe her now, but they might plant the seed.
"I shouldn't have had to." Hinata sniffed.
Itachi placed his hand over her head and held her there. Hinata's self-loathing was hard to argue because, in her eyes, she was a murderer. She was the judge, jury, and executioner, finding herself at fault for a mistake she couldn't have seen the outcome of.
At least now, she would allow herself to take the comfort he offered. It was a small step on the road to forgiving herself that she fought tooth and nail to not go down.
