Hello! I hope you'll like this chapter!
Disclaimer: I own the OCs in this fic, the rest is Masashi Kishomoto's. Sorry for any spelling mistakes or any OCCness.
Character age:
Akane, Itachi: 23
Naruto, Sasuke: 17
Shisui: 26
Kakashi: 31
"I know that...the Shinigami's influence is at work here, I'm fully aware of that, of how...it multiplies every single bad thing I think of, or amplifies the one flaw in something I do or say to really make me feel like crap but...I feel like crap times ten since the party."
"Well...it was more of a show than a party I'd say, like yours," Inoichi-san replied.
"Yeah, of course but...every single thing I thought about myself was brought back by two gossip women and it just made me…" I sighed. "I'm just questioning my own legitimacy regarding my whole life in Konoha. It kind of makes me want to run back straight to Kiri and not leave it."
"And why do you think that?"
"I'm sick of fighting to be respected for who I am," I admitted. "Being a woman is hard enough, now it's just…"
"And how do you think Itachi would react if he knew all of that?" I smiled faintly.
"Probably not good but...I'm struggling to see where I fit in his life. Having a hidden relationship is one thing, you don't have to deal with some aspects of the other's life but...I know his clan will never accept me and I don't want him to suffer from it." I leaned back in the chair, looking at the ceiling. "It's like every reason I didn't want to be involved with him in the first place came back all at once and hit me like a train." I looked at him. "I'm sorry for asking for you again." He waved me off.
"It's fine, it's easier to talk to someone you already know. That being said, it will be all for today I'm afraid." I stood up.
"Of course, thanks for taking the time to receive me. Goodbye."
"Have a good day." I left his office and walked through the flower shop.
Of course, I'd find myself face to face with Itachi at the exit of the shop. He did have a gift for being here when I didn't want him to, no matter what.
"Good afternoon," he greeted me quietly.
"Hi." He looked up, then down at my empty hands, then at my troubled face.
"Are you going to therapy again?"
"Well, you were quick to figure that out," I muttered. "I have to go." I left without a glance for him. Of course, I knew he was staring at me as I was walking away, but I kept going.
Tonight, we'd go to the Naka Shrine as we couldn't before. Shisui would join us. Then, Sasuke and I agreed not to see each other before the actual wedding.
I sighed when I found myself in the park where we'd go with Itachi. I pursed my lips. Kids were playing there, so I should...just lea…
"Come on!" I grumbled, rubbing my nose as I bumped in Itachi.
In the blink of an eye, he grabbed me and took me away. He let go of me only when we were on top of the Shodai's head.
"What the hell Itachi? I thought we coul…"
"I'm a clone." I raised a brow. "If my original had come and left me in his place the Uchiha watching him would have noticed I was a clone." I pursed my lips. "You're really going back to therapy then?"
"So what? I think after everything that happened, I have a right to." I sat down, hugging my knees to my chest. "Was that all? It's a lot of risks for not much."
"Your well-being is worth it." I looked away. He slowly knelt next to me. "What did you do to your arm?"
"Nothing I didn't control, I'm...fine…" Itachi tried to touch my arm but I moved it before. He sighed.
"You read my letter." I nodded. "Are you doubting some of the things I wrote inside?"
"...no...but it doesn't make the situation any easier."
"I know," he whispered with sadness. "I…"
"I don't want to hear you right now," I said quietly. He closed his mouth. "The wedding is in a few days, please tell me you have something, that I won't have to walk down the aisle."
"You won't. I swear you won't." I fought the urge to scoff. "I have your blood results, they will be useful, and I talked to Shisui after, and he told me about Taki." I pursed my lips. "They won't get away with it Akane."
"I hope so, because I surprised myself thinking Danzo was not entirely wrong and I don't like that Itachi." He gulped. "A part of your clan is rotten, I doubt…"
"You think I don't know that already?" I shot him a quick look. He was glaring at the rock beneath us. "I am trying...my clan will be drastically different, at least, I hope. I just…I'd like to know if I'll be alone at the end of it."
"I still love you you dummy, even if I'm angry at the moment. Just...I'll need to stay away from your clan once everything is over."
"Of course yeah."
"Because it's not doing me great and…" I sighed and turned toward him.
I cupped his cheek and kissed the other one softly. As I moved back, Itachi staring at my lips, I raised my free arm. He glanced at it, then me.
"I can dispel myself just fine."
"Yes, but I'm not really happy with you and I need this. Don't worry, your original will have one too, or a punch depending on my mood." He sighed and I slapped him. I was briefly engulfed in a puff of smoke.
It wasn't just a wind of modernity the Uchihas needed...it was sorting people. Maybe it was the kunoichi who fought in a rebellion talking but...there were some people in that clan who were too far deep in their ideas.
Around eleven in the evening, we went in the Compound with Sasuke and Shisui. With the three of us, and especially Shisui's sharingan, we got in Naka Shrine easily.
"Huh...that's not good," Shisui whispered to us at the tatami removed. I scanned the place and almost rolled my eyes, going down.
"It's fine."
Itachi raised a brow at the three of us. I shook my head. I saw him too much today.
"There are two of you who should not be here," he told us with narrowed eyes.
"Why are you here?" Sasuke inquired with a frown.
"I'm trying to decipher it."
"Well, same," Shisui informed him as I knelt in front of the tablet.
I summoned the writings from the other tablet I had worked on and looked at them.
"'Seeking stability, one god was divided into yin and yang, these opposing two acting together obtain all things in creation,'" I read carefully, my finger going down the particular line, writing in down in a notebook. Then another. "'As the heart's pain grows stronger, so is the eye that reflects it. Thus, the man will have control over the bearers of the first chakra.' Okay, so the Mangekyou and the bijuus."
I kept going, Itachi quietly crouching next to me, his sharingan on as he read my paper.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but you can read it?" Shisui asked me, stunned.
"Yeah. It's what was before old fuin, there were a few things in Uzushio written in it." I already knew the big message of it, but I did know how to read it. "If you know enough, you can put pieces together without the documents I had. I've put what we got on the island in old fuin. Now shush."
I tapped my fingernail on one of the lines.
"So that's the one…" I muttered to myself. "'Only the eternal dream will grant the Uchihas prosperity forever.' Huh, bullshit."
"What does yours say?" Itachi asked me quietly.
"That those who will bring the eternal dream to reality will be the harbingers of the end of everything."
"And how do we know which one is true?" I jumped on my feet, putting everything away and turned toward Shisui, a harsh look on my eyes.
"I don't want to hurt you guys, but your clan has this shitty Curse of Hatred that makes you easily influenced if something goes your way, so what do you think? And take it from someone who was stuck in that eternal dream. I don't recommend. I'm off."
"Ak…" I teleported before Shisui could finish his sentence and was in my room.
I didn't bother removing my shoes and fell on my bed. Otsutsuki Hagoromo wrote the damn tablet, the Otsutsuki language later gave birth to old fuin, then the fuin I grew up with. Everything came from those damn aliens. They called themselves deities but…
Shit, wouldn't there be this moon stuff soon too? Or was it linked to Kaguya's appearance?
I groaned and removed my shoes, throwing them against the wall. It just would never end.
"I'm starving."
"Akane, you didn't listen to them, did you?" Mikoto-san asked me with a scolding look in her eyes. Mom frowned and looked at her.
"What?"
"There are people in the clan who said she should lose weight if she wanted to wear a dress and not a kimono." Mom's eyes turned deadly.
"I was above my regular weight and…"
"Akane, you were fighting a war!" Mom scolded me. "If anything, you should not think twice about eating!" Mikoto-san nodded next to her. "What did you eat this week?"
"...rice, and chicken, and vegetables...and water or tea. Then I drank less for...water weight…"
"I would slap you if your makeup was not already done." I looked down.
"Sorry Mom." She sighed, turning me around so I could see myself.
I had some liberty regarding my wedding dress, and Mikoto-san was there to back me up and keep me in lines. She didn't object to anything I wanted though.
I had a white corset, making my chest look bigger than what it actually was. It was covered by white lace in a rose pattern. My shoulders were bare, the sleeves starting at the middle of my arms. They were loose, in white lace as well, but not see-through. They ended at my fingertips. The skirt was long, covering my feet and white heels, and white, of course, with no pattern on it. I did have a garter on my right thigh though, also white.
"You are beautiful honey," Mom said, putting my hair in my back so that it did not hide my face. Simple shiny eye shadow, mascara, red lips. I had a bun done with the upper half of my hair, the kanzashi in it, the rest being curly. My bangs were as well.
"Thanks Mom. Thanks, Mikoto-san for…the whole look." She embraced me too when she turned around.
"You are an eye candy Akane, never doubt that." I frowned at the compliment, and she winked at me when she let go.
"Is there an open bar Mikoto?"
"I can feel the disaster coming, we don't need a drunk Uzumaki too. The whole reputation your clan has always come up when alcohol is involved." Yeah, I couldn't deny that.
"Fine," Mom sighed. "Can I hit your husband if it goes too, too far?" Mikoto-san just shrugged.
"Why would you want to hit Fugaku-san?"
"It was in Kushina's will that's all." I widened my eyes. "It's true! It was written, black on white, that if she were to pass away in any circumstances, then I had to, if possible, annoy Fugaku every once in a while, because 'Miko-chan doesn't deserve the craziness'." Mikoto-san smiled fondly, a nostalgic look in her eyes.
"That's what I get for marrying him and having two sons with him. It's a wonder I do not have gray hair yet."
"Yeah, you don't dye it or anything, do you?" I asked her. She shook her head. "Wow. I mean...yeah, that's a miracle."
"We're going to leave, see you in a few minutes." I nodded at them as they left the room.
I was staring at my reflection at every angle, trying to find flaws. I did, of course, but I was quite happy with the result. I was looking at myself from the side, my veil on, when the door was opened, Itachi slipping in the room.
"What are you doing?" I asked him with wide eyes. His back was to me as he quietly shut the door.
"I know what I am doin…" He didn't finish his sentence as he turned around, staring at me up and down instead. I crossed my arms on my chest, gazing at him with a pointed look on my face. "You're divine." I blushed hard at that. No amount of foundation would hide the blood rushing to my face.
"You're...not bad either." He was wearing the same kind of thing Sasuke wore not so long ago. "But you shouldn't be here!"
"It doesn't matter anymore," he retorted, still staring at me up and down. I almost felt naked.
"Can you stop staring?"
"I'm trying right now, believe it or not." His eyes stopped on my chest, and he furrowed his brows.
"I'm wearing a corset," I explained, turning around to look in the mirror. "I can't eat, or sit, or breathe even, but at least I have a cleavage to show now." He inched closer to me, almost with a feline-like walk.
He slowly and carefully slipped his arms around my waist, pressing me against his chest. He leaned his temple against mine.
"Do you have food?" I asked him quietly.
"No, why?"
"I'm starving, I had to lose weight for my dress, so I didn't eat mu…" He sighed, annoyed.
"Your health is more important Akane." I pursed my lips.
"Yeah, sure, but I might not have another opportunity to wear a wedding dress again, so I got one I find perfect, I wanted to fit in it."
"It's nonsense." I frowned.
"It's not, I wanted to fi…"
"To say you won't have another opportunity, it's nonsense," he repeated with a small frown. I blushed a little.
"...Itachi, I'm not really going to marry Sasuke, right?" He turned me around, his hands on my hips. "I'm...I'm getting really scared right now and…" He cupped my cheeks in his warm hands.
"You're not getting married, and if it comes to it say 'no'. Actually, I need you to say 'no'. You're in your right to turn everything down." I blinked. "I've got the proofs and everything, Tsunade-sama is in the attendance and part of the plan. The Mizukage wished us luck and apologized for not helping us more."
"What?" I asked him in a small voice. He kissed the crown of my head.
"It's not just you being a pawn for my clan, it's a diplomatic incident and possibly breaking an alliance between Konoha and Kiri, and possibly more. They must take action. I want what's best for my clan, but they need to take responsibility. If anything, I'm sorry you have to be involved in this mess."
"That's...I was the one to accept the deal…"
"I don't care."
We looked softly at each other, our forehead against each other. He ran his thumb right below my mouth, staring at it with lust.
"Do you have what's needed to fix your lipstick?" he asked me in a husky tone. I gulped and nodded hastily. "Good, you're going to need it." He pressed his lips firmly against mine, pinning me against the mirror behind me.
I gasped in the kiss, his hands and arms holding me tightly against him. His tongue was almost immediately against mine and I moaned. In spite of my mind and my feelings being a mess right now, I couldn't deny how good it felt to finally, finally kiss him again and be in his arms. I didn't waste time and kissed him back, my hands running on his chest and in his back. There was a growl coming from the back of his throat as his lips went in my neck.
"Wait...Itachi, not…"
"I want you so bad…" he growled against my skin, his hands gripping at me possessively. "You have no idea how badly I want to be inside of you Akane." I moaned when he nibbled on my neck. "The dress you were wearing the other day...How I wanted to rip it off your body and make you scream." His lips were just above my corset, kissing the top of my breasts. "And I had to kiss you while you're wearing this dress." His forehead once again against mine. We were both panting.
I smiled a little and removed the red lipstick he had on his face. He did the same, trying not to smudge the red on my makeup.
"Feel better?" I asked him with an amused smile.
"A lot."
"...I have a garter on my right leg?" He didn't need more to be on his knees in front of me. I chuckled behind my fist as he pulled up my dress like he could before deciding that he just needed to get under it. "Oh God!" He left butterfly kisses on my leg, fondling it at the same time.
I leaned my head back with a sigh of pleasure. I felt him getting the garter between his teeth and shortly after, he was standing in front of me, staring at the piece of clothing.
"I'll keep that," he murmured, putting it in his pocket. He grabbed my waist again and kissed me. "I wanted to eat you out. I could have."
"Huh huh…"
"But it's not the moment."
"And you're engaged." He pursed his lips, the moment broken. "It's…"
"I'll call the engagement off the moment I can." He looked at the clock. "I should go."
"Yeah...it's...it's for the best yes." I pushed him away to get my lipstick. He stared at me as I reapplied it. Once it was done, he pinched the bridge of his nose. "What? Did I mess up somewhere?"
"No, but I think I have something for you with red lipstick, I really want to kiss you again." I shook my head.
"Now shoo." I gestured at the door, but he took my hand and kissed my knuckle.
"Don't leave the room until Kakashi-san comes to get you."
"Okay." He kissed me on the cheek. "Good luck."
"I love you." I smiled at him as he left.
I put a hand over my heart. It was beating wildly, and heat surely pooled in my lower stomach and between my legs during our make out session. It was hot and steamy, and I was pretty sure he was starting to get hard.
He was...too intense sometimes.
Kakashi came maybe ten minutes later.
"Hey, you did become a woman."
"Ha ha, you're so funny."
"Not everyone can see my incredible sense of humor." I crossed my arm with his and we left. "Are you nervous?" I took a deep breath.
"Yes, of course I am."
"Yeah, it's making me feel so old." I raised a brow at him. "Not even because of you, but Sasuke. He was a cute little genin…"
"Still a genin."
"And now he's getting married. They're growing up so fast."
"You've known me since I was two and Sasuke is the one making you feel old?"
"Don't be jealous Akane."
"I'm not…"
"We're here." I blinked at the door.
Kakashi put my veil in front of my face and opened the door, our arms crossed. I took a deep breath and held my head high as the music played. I felt every stares, heard every whispers. What were supposed to be a few feet felt like miles. I was glad when I reached the steps and took Sasuke's hand to get in front of him.
The preacher started his speech, that I barely listened to. I wasn't...very religious, so this whole thing...and white was supposed to represent purity, and I knew for a fact that Itachi and I could get real dirty sometimes.
Then came the question.
"Uzumaki Akane, do you want to take Uchiha Sasuke as your rightful husband?" I took a deep breath, Sasuke more than uncomfortable in that position.
"No," I finally said, loud and clear for everyone to hear. I caught Itachi's eyes briefly and the ghost of a smile on his face before Hiroshi stood up, red in fury.
"That's preposterous! You have to!"
"Actually no, she has been in the position to cancel that engagement for a while now," Itachi intervened calmly, walking in front of Sasuke and I, almost as if he was trying to shield us.
Sasuke breathed out in relief and I squeezed his shoulder.
"How would she…"
"She was drugged on the night of my engagement party, by someone who clearly was under the sharingan's influence. You know that if you attempt anything on someone engaged in the clan head's family, then they can break off their engagement."
"You don't have pro…"
"I've seen the proof," Tsunade-san stated firmly, standing up. The Elders looked between her and Itachi in shock, then failed at hiding the panic they felt. "Itachi, continue because this is going to be very interesting."
"You've been trying to sabotage anyone close to my father for the past two years. First, someone copied the Hokage's apprentice handwriting to falsify a prescription I needed, which would have put an end to my shinobi life. Funny enough, your granddaughter worked at the hospital and cannot stand Sakura."
Sakura tried to hide behind Naruto when Tsunade-san glanced at her.
"Then you attacked on the night of the Summer Festival last year."
"You can't accu…"
"Zotutsu confessed, and I checked." It made Hiroshi shut his mouth. "Now, going back to your granddaughter, she really shone on the battlefield, especially in Taki." He paled. "Yes, Shisui told me everything. She didn't drug Akane, no, it would be too simple. It was way better to hypnotize her medic teammate and have him drug her, which made her fail her mission, which led her and Shisui to be sheltered by Taki." Even if I could not see his face, I knew his eyes were probably straight icy. "Your granddaughter, thus the clan, indirectly caused the destruction of an entire village. Not only that, but Terumi Dai is the Fifth Mizukage's brother, and she did not like hearing about this. You've risked the alliance between the villages, our position within the village and the lives of many in the last war. Of course, if Akane married into the clan now, it would calm the tensions down before they grew too much, right?"
Shisui, in full shinobi gear, appeared in the room, his hands holding Manami's hands in her back. Her face was facing the floor. He shot me a quick look and sent Sasuke and I a confident smirk.
"You can't kill her to claim compensation anymore." I looked at Itachi, dumbfounded, then Sasuke, who nodded with a conflicted frown. "I will put it in terms you will understand. You love to remind her she is a foreigner so much, so if she died, you would ask for compensation to my father, who would most likely fail to find one and he would lose his spot as the head of the clan. People die in wars, and if it had happened, no one would have known she was drugged. It's lucky Jiraya-sama decided to send Shisui and her on this mission. Even so, you wouldn't have had compensation."
"And why?" Hiroshi had the nerve to ask. Itachi took a few steps toward him.
"Because her engagement would have been completely wiped off by the fact she is the Shodai Hokage's great-grand-niece, as well as the officially elected Sixth Mizukage." He paled drastically.
Many paled, and in that moment, it was easy to see who was for Fugaku-san's leadership and who wasn't. I was still stuck on the fact that they had really tried to kill me to…
"Did they want this from the beginning? Kill me to get things out of my death?" I asked Sasuke in a whisper.
"I'm sorry," he replied as quietly, without looking at me.
"And she's also the Fourth Hokage's god daughter, who appeared in his will, but now Naruto's relation to Namikaze Minato is public knowledge, you must have gotten that."
"And don't try to deny it, Manami spilled everything," Shisui added, twisting her arms even more.
"On whose authority do you…"
"Mine. Your little game for power put too much at risk for me not to take actions," Tsunade-san cut him off, ANBU appearing around. "I heard from a trustworthy source what she had done. I took the necessary measures."
I quickly glanced at Sasuke, who nodded curtly. He was the source huh...Had he been feeding Tsunade-san information for a long time then?
"Sending Uchiha Sasuke was to prove our good will, be it the village or your clan, to a place that was manipulated for years by a rogue Uchiha, and you almost destroyed everything." She looked at Fugaku-san, so far silent on the first row next to Mikoto-san, who seemed to be very happy about the situation. "So, who?"
The ANBU took two-third of the Uchihas present in custody, Shisui taking Manami with them. The Clan Heads and their children, Naruto's generation mainly, took their leave as well, Shikaku-san shaking Itachi's hand firmly. The Hokage started to talk to Itachi and his father, Sasuke joining them rapidly.
I went to Mikoto-san.
"Is the food paid for already?" She gazed at me, taken back.
"Yes, why?" I nodded, lifted my dress a little and left.
When I got to the reception room, I had to tell the staff the wedding was off and I didn't know what my ex-future-in-laws were planning to do. I just stuffed my face with meat, and rice, and a huge slice of wedding cake, frosting smudging on my face and nose.
I wiped my face; makeup being wiped off as well before leaving the place when I felt people coming. I went to the park, took my shoes off and climbed on the swing.
They wanted me to be engaged to their clan...so that they could kill me and ask for...they never intended for a foreigner to be into the clan, that was why Keiko was so disdainful with me. I lived too long for their taste. And I went through so much shit after Shisui survived Danzo...all of this to basically be considered as a pig getting ready for the slaughterhouse.
"No one knows where she is?" Akiko asked with wide eyes.
"She asked me if the food was paid for earlier, so she must have gone to the reception room," Mikoto replied.
"I'll…" Akiko put her hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"No, you and your team go after Sasuke, I'm sure he needs it. We're going to look for Akane." Naruto clenched his fists but nodded nonetheless before leaving.
Itachi had not even seen her leave. It had felt so good to finally let everything off his chest and see these people's face decomposing. It had taken all his will to not go and kill them directly when Sasuke brought him this clause of the contract that the Hokage had. They had been planning to kill Akane for a decade and…
He took a deep breath. He had to find her. It was almost over; she no longer was engaged to Sasuke and he really wanted to continue their earlier activities now they could. He was engaged to Izumi but...she was eager to break it off too.
He'd change the marital obligations of the clan next. The ways of his clan had been met with more disapproval than when Shisui and him were trying to stop the coup since the clan was more accepted and the war, he had more support. It was mainly from people from his generation and under, as well as his mother's, so the Fourth's generation. They could change. They just needed to cut off the rotten root.
How ironic was it that a slaughter Danzo would have orchestrated would have made them avoid a huge political and diplomatic mess like this one. The Mizukage was happy with the work Sasuke provided in Kiri and trusted him, much like Akane's judgment, but without these two elements, they would have headed for another war.
When he arrived at the reception room, he saw some of the dishes had been started. He left quickly when he didn't find Akane. She said she was starving, so of course she'd go there.
His legs slowed down when he reached the park and saw a bride on the swing. He sighed in relief and walked up to her.
"You found me," she stated blandly.
"Of course, I found you." She looked down at him.
The pure confusion, sadness, sorrow and heart break in her eyes broke his heart. He never liked the way his clan saw her, and now he didn't want any of them apart from his close family within a certain radius from her.
He sat down on the swing next to her and leaned his head against the rope. It had been so long since they had been there, just the two of them in silence.
Truth be told, when she said she may not have another shot at wearing a wedding dress, his heart broke a little. He meant it when he wrote in his letter he'd marry her, even if they never talked about marriage, but she probably had Obito in mind. Still, he wanted to marry her. He even surprised himself wanting to push Sasuke off the altar to take his place.
She was beautiful and seeing her walking down the aisle at Kakashi's arm just made his heartbeat faster and faster, until it dropped when she took Sasuke's hand.
Sasuke who would need some serious talk because he could try to hide it as much as he wanted, he was worn out by the whole situation. His efforts had almost been turned into dust and he had been feeding the Hokage information behind everyone's back until he told him she wanted to see him.
"Am I...a pig ready for slaughter?" Itachi frowned and looked up at her.
"Don't ever say that, it's not…" A lone tear ran down her cheek and he stood up, the old swing creaking at the sudden movement. He stretched out his hand at her. She looked down at it and took it, letting him help her down.
His arm stayed around her waist.
"It's just...it sucks when you realize some people still don't see or respect you as a human being." He didn't know what to say, so he just hugged her tightly.
He buried his face in the crook of her neck and took a deep breath. It was hard to realize she finally was back in his arms, but now was still not the time to talk about them. He had business to finish and she…
"I want to go home," she mumbled against his jacket.
"Sure, I'll take you home," he whispered gently in her ear.
She picked up her shoes and he picked her up, carrying her like the bride she almost was.
"I can walk," she reminded him with a tiny, tiny smile.
"I can carry you," he retorted with a smirk. She scoffed and leaned her head against him.
The walk home was quiet, and slow as he didn't want to let go of her for now. He almost sighed when he saw her mother's house. He took the key from the plant pot next to the door and let her open the door. She dropped her shoes.
"Itachi, can you...I need help to undress." He looked at her with interest. "The corset is tied in my back and your mother made it a little too tight, I don't think I'll have enough grip."
"Of course." He removed his shoes and closed the door behind him, climbing the stairs quickly.
Her room had not changed. It had been a while since he went in it.
Akane got out of his embrace and went to her closet. He'd lie if he said he didn't feel a pang at his heart at seeing all of her clothes in there and not…
"Okay…" She put on a black tank top and shorts on, in spite of the skirt of the dress. "Can you…" He walked behind up and lifted her top.
She sighed in relief, her shoulders dropping when the corset was loosened and then opened. She squirmed a little, the dress pooling down her feet and looked beneath her shirt.
"I have red marks everywhere!" she groaned. She picked up the dress and put it on the back of her chair. "Thanks Itachi…"
"I love undressing you." She smiled a little at that as she turned to him.
"I know." He was in front of her in two steps but found himself kissing her hand.
He gulped at her shifty eyes.
"What's going on?" he asked her as gently as possible. He had a bad feeling.
"I just...I need some...time...alone…" He took a step back. "Can we...stay broken up for now?"
This was not the kind of reunion he had expected. Hugs, tears, kisses, lovemaking, probably a slap or two and anger, but he had not thought of that. Only in his worst scenarios but…
His stomach was painful.
"Can I know why?" he asked her in a shaky voice. He cleared his throat when he realized that.
No matter what the reason was, he didn't want her to rethink it if she saw what she was inflicting him.
"I just…I need to process a lot and...I don't want any Uchiha around." She wiped her nose with her hand. "I know you...don't think that but…you're also included in that. I just...I need to get my shit together a little bit more and you still have some things to finish on your side so…"
"Oh." It made sense. He was hurt, his heart was aching, but it made sense. "If you feel it's what's best for you then...yes, sure." She smiled faintly at him. "You can...come back at the apartment, I can stay at my parents'…"
"I'm good here, actually." It hurt even more.
As if having to break up with her was not enough, now she didn't want to get back together immediately.
"Okay."
"I'll...come and see you when...I'm ready." He nodded.
"Do you want your key back at least?" She shook her head. "I'll leave the door unlock then. Don't...even knock when you come, just...get in, it's still your apartment too."
"Thank you. I'll...walk you back."
As they were at the front door, he couldn't bring himself to look at her, just like she couldn't look at him. There was a heavy, awkward silence between them. Going from telling each other everything to not being able to look at each other…
It was plain painful.
"Good luck on...the shitload of work you guys are going to have."
"Yeah, we'll need it." She opened her mouth but was interrupted by Naruto's voice before the teenager trapped her in a crushing hug.
"We were worried nee-chan!"
"I'm fine…" He let her go and turned around to see him. He narrowed his blue eyes and stepped in front of Akane. "Naru, it's fine. He found me and is going home now."
"Humph, I don't trust him anymore."
He probably deserved that too.
"We talked about this."
"I don't care!" She sighed.
"Bye Itachi."
"Bye." Naruto shut the door, almost at his face.
In spite of everything, he still went home with a heavy heart.
Hey! Thanks for reading and leave a review to tell me what you thought of this chapter! Thanks to Mikan26 for the review!
Bye!