Hinata left the library in a haze. Something wasn't adding up. Hinata finally found an article that covered Itachi's death, or at least she assumed it was him because it didn't name him. A falling death from the top of a hospital on the date she knew he died, but what didn't make sense was that the case was presumed to be a suicide.

If Itachi's memories were correct, he was trying to keep someone else from jumping. With only one person falling from the roof… that means he succeeded in saving the old man but then fell himself. Why wouldn't the person he saved be able to tell them what happened?

This did explain why it was so hard to find anything on him. The Uchiha family would have wanted to sweep it all under the rug if they thought he had killed himself, just like her father had done with Hanabi.

Hinata couldn't even think about her father right now. It made her too angry. If Hinata knew what was really happening, she wouldn't have thought Hanabi was being difficult and not listening to the doctors. She may not have known what to do, but knowing that actual monsters were scaring her made it so much worse.

Or did it?

Did it matter if the monsters were real? Hinata should have been looking after her either way, but her father could take the guilt of gaslighting his daughter into thinking the very real souls that were plaguing her weren't real to his grave, just like Hinata would for her own sins.

Hiashi deserved those monsters plaguing him, too.

Did they not? Was he not as sensitive to it? Did he just ignore it? Did Neji feel them, too? Should she tell him? If he didn't, would he think she was going down the same path Hanabi had? If Neji could feel them, did he think that he was crazy? She thought she was when she started seeing Itachi, but she was ready to accept it as punishment to suffer as her sister did.

Hinata felt a raindrop on her face, and she looked up as a few more came to greet her. She still felt like she deserved to be caught in the rain, but she would now hope her father got caught in it, too. She closed her eyes for a moment to feel them run down her face, but then the drops stopped. She opened her eyes to a black umbrella being held over her head. Itachi stood by idly as he held it there, waiting for her to lead the way home.

She didn't deserve him, but she was glad she had him.

Metallic banging and the occasional grunt came from the back of the shop. Hinata held the metal cover up over her head. It had already fallen on her twice while she strained to reach and point the flashlight where Kiba needed it to be. "I almost got it." He grumbled, digging inside.

"I feel like a magnet on a stick would be helpful for this." Hinata giggled as they bumped into each other as he tried to angle his hand into the right spot. His feet kicked out as he tipped most of his body inside.

"You want to know what the one thing in here that isn't magnetic?" Kiba cursed as he yanked his hand back to reveal a scratch as he caught his hand on something. "Damn it. Give me a minute." He hissed as he went to treat his hand.

Hinata relaxed half in the machine and tilted her head at Itachi, who had his arms crossed in the corner, acting like he wasn't watching them struggle. "If you help, you don't have to watch us dig anymore."

"We aren't meant to help humans." Itachi flickered his eyes away.

Well, Hinata knew that was a complete lie. Itachi hadn't gotten in trouble for helping her so far. Maybe it wasn't in their nature, but it certainly wasn't banned. He was just being stubborn. "If I can get it, then I can go back to the sewing machine. Or you could continue to pout, and I could be in here with him for the next hour."

Itachi sighed. Hinata smiled. She knew he was more interested in getting her away from Kiba than he was reluctant to help Kiba. He reached through the machine and brought the tool up to her.

"Thank you.~" Hinata waved it as she scooted back until her feet hit the stool that she originally used to crawl in.

"Oh, you got it?" Kiba came back with a fresh bandage. "How?"

"Smaller hands." Hinata excused holding out. "Don't drop it again. Can't promise I can get it a second time." She side-eyed Itachi as she rubbed her midsection, wondering if she should have been putting pressure there after her broken rib a while ago.

Itachi eyes shifted in what she would call him, rolling his eyes as he walked toward her station. Hinata tried not to laugh at him, but Itachi's growing expressiveness was entertaining, especially since, most of the time, he had no clue he was doing it.

Itachi wrapped his arms around Hinata's waist as she washed her dishes. He laid his head down on her shoulder and took in her heat.

"Cold?" Hinata hummed as she flicked off her hands.

"I can't be cold." Itachi reminded her.

"But you like being warm." Hinata turned her head to him. "So, not being warm is cold for you."

"Then I am always cold unless I am here," Itachi concluded.

Hinata giggled, making his chest vibrate with her laugh. "Well, you're welcome to all the heat I can give."

"Some day, you won't have any more heat to give me." Itachi looked into her soap water. "I will stay cold."

Hinata angled her neck to look at him. "I will just have to give you enough to keep you warm for a while then."

Itachi shifted to look at her, then closed his eyes to press his lips to her neck, which shot her heart rate up and her heat within moments.

"At least let me finish the dishes." Hinata's voice became lower and laced with her embarrassment.

Itachi laid his face into her neck, knowing it would keep her heart rate up but allow her to finish her task before he could further distract her from her chores.

"Vegetables." Itachi reminded Hinata as he trailed behind her down the aisle of the grocery store. The rattling of bad cartwheels filled the silence of people looking at their lists.

"I know." Hinata waved her hand, looking at the shelves of brightly colored packages. "I need food for when you aren't home, too."

"I can make extra." Itachi tried to take the prepackaged food out of her hand.

Hinata pulled it closer to her before putting it in her basket. "You can't always cook for me."

"Then I should teach you so this doesn't get used." Itachi reached into the basket, and Hinata jerked it away, giving him a look to leave it. His hand hovered, but he put it down. Now, she just had to make sure it didn't mysteriously disappear.

Hinata lifted her face to the sun. It was a rare clear day on her walk to work. The sidewalk was dry and busy. She wasn't opening that shop today, so she left late enough for most people to be scattering around to their own jobs.

She could probably keep her eyes closed, and her face turned toward the sun with Itachi leading her, but she knew people could see her, so she needed to at least look like she was paying attention to where she was going.

Itachi idly walked her to work, and though he claimed he couldn't be bored, was a morning commute at all interesting to him? It must be since he was taking it. He didn't need to. Itachi seemed to like just experiencing things, even if they weren't pleasant. He just wanted to exist alongside her.

He was becoming more and more human as his memories trickled back in. Hinata wondered if he would become human enough that he would be less interested in doing boring things like walking her to work. At what point of being human might he be sick of being her shadow?

If he disappeared, would she still see him in window reflections and under streetlamps? Would she see him even when he wasn't there like she had imagined her sister?

If Itachi never came back, would it feel like he died? Would it feel like he never existed? He wouldn't leave anything behind. There was nothing in her home that belonged to him, and if he had his coat scarf, there wouldn't be anything of his to be left.

All she would be left with would be the memories, the ring, and the ghosts.