Hinata flipped through her keys on the way to her door, almost missing the package neatly tucked against the door frame. She bent down, setting the box on her hip as she opened the door and placed it inside to be forgotten momentarily as she took her shoes and coat off. She sat on the ledge separating her entrance from the rest of the house to examine the package.

Her father's address and writing, but what would her father send her?

Hinata picked at the tape and pulled up over to dig inside. On top was a simple piece of paper. 'You forgot these.' If it were anyone other than her father, she would think he sent this to be nice, but he didn't want anything of hers in his house.

What was he digging through that he found this? Hinata pulled out a smaller box with dust lines and a stale smell with her name written on the side. It looked like it was plucked right out of storage. The tape across the top had the same layer of dust. Hiashi didn't even open it. Her name wasn't in her handwriting. The tape was old and crumbling as she pried the flaps open. Inside was an odd mixture of things old trinkets and books. They looked traditional. Hinata pulled out a small velvet box, opening it to reveal a dainty ring.

Wait a minute.

Hinata set the box aside to dig through a shelf and find a photo album. She balanced it on her knee, flipping for the picture she sought. She held the ring up to the image. Same pattern. Her mother smiled back at her holding an infant in a blanket with the same ring on her finger. Not her ring finger. It wasn't her wedding ring.

Hinata set the album down and pulled out the picture to look at the back. 'Hinata's first day home.' That handwriting matched the box. Her mother must have put this away. Her father would have never sent it if he had known that. "Thanks, mom. It's beautiful." Hinata slid it on her finger before collecting the box and putting it in the corner to finish going through later.

Hinata brushed off her hands, turned to find something to eat, and screamed, reeling back. Lamp-post-man was in her living room. She flattened herself against the wall. Maybe she was going crazy.

He stared back at her, tall, still, standing in her living room with his shoes on, she blinked, and he didn't go away like usual. Her heart rate shot up as his eyebrows knit together. He looked as confused as she was. He turned his head and stepped in that direction, disappearing as if he walked out of existence.

Hinata put a hand over her heart as it hammered through her chest. Maybe she should get her eyes checked, or maybe her head. Hinata rolled her thumb over her mother's ring as she cautiously stepped forward and swiped her hand where he was. There was no dirt from his shoes, no scuffs from the rubber.

He looked real, but there was no sign he was there. Maybe she was being haunted.

"Come on, one drink," Kiba begged to lower himself to the counter to look more pathetic. "We can get chicken wings."

"I don't drink," Hinata repeated, focusing on straightening the hangers.

"You're not going to get drunk off of one beer." Kiba whined, waving his hand at a disinterested Shino. When that didn't work, Kiba nudged him. Shino glared under his glasses. "Come on, how many times have we gone out without her? It's not fair."

"To you or her?" Shino moved out of range to be physically convinced again.

Kiba avoided answering. "It's peak bonding time."

"Maybe she would come if she didn't know you would pressure her to drink the whole time." Shino countered, leaning his hip on the end of the counter and crossing his arms.

Now they were both looking at her for an answer. Hinata sighed. She didn't want to have this conversation again. Alcohol made people do things they wouldn't ever do normally. Hinata couldn't trust herself to do the right thing when sober. She was never going to mess with her judgment willingly.

Especially when lamp-post-man was standing across the street watching her. The image of the tall man haunted outside the shop in broad daylight on and off for the last week. Now that she saw him more often, the details she hadn't thought about became clearer.

Long dark hair tied back at the base of his neck. The black coat was square at the shoulders, always open, and long past his knees, like if it was worn with a suit, but he never wore a suit. He had a black turtle neck that made his jaw look sharper and his face sterner.

Hinata's eyes met his out the window. Maybe he wasn't a ghost. Maybe he was a bad omen. Should she be worried?

"Alright, no drinks, just chicken." Kiba relented, pulling her eyes from the street. "I promise."

"Fine." Hinata agreed.

Kiba clapped his hands. "Let's go."

Itachi hung back from her group. She glanced over her shoulder at him as he walked behind them with his hand in his pockets. Something changed. Before, she only saw him periodically, missing him if she was purposely watching for him. Now it was like she was constantly aware he was there, but she never stopped him.

He startled her, in her house. Surely after a scare like that, she would be afraid of him, or try to attack him. That was the natural response, right? Fight or flight? She did neither. She acknowledged he was there, looking right at him as he watched from a distance, but then just looked away like he wasn't there.

If she hadn't reacted so violently in her home, Itachi might have convinced himself that she wasn't really looking at him.

They came to a crosswalk stopping to wait for the light. Itachi slowed to his own stop. If he got too close, she might prove to him that she knew he was there. He wasn't sure he actually wanted to know.

His interest was purely that, at the moment, interest. If he had an answer. He had no more questions, or he could have a new question he wouldn't like the answer to.

The men with her crossed the street as the crosswalk told them it was safe. The loud one's talking drowned out the noise of her dropping her keys. She took a moment too long to look at them with a moment of frustration. She kneeled to pick them up and walked forward as she tried to reattach them to her bag, but after a few attempts, it was clear that the clasp was broken. She slowed her step as she focused more on the clasp than walking.

And the cross walked turned red.

Itachi took many souls from this scenario. People not paying attention when they crossed the street. Would he meet her today?

A hand shot out to drag her across the street. She blinked up at her friend and the light as he scolded her for not watching. She glanced back at Itachi as a car drove between the two of them, the speed blowing her hair into her face. She return her attention to her friends as they more attentively dragged her down the street.

There was no way she knew what he was… right?

Why did it look like she was expecting something from him?

Maybe he was a death omen. Maybe she was taunting him by looking him in the eye. You weren't supposed to look ghosts in the eye either, right? "Maybe he's her to tell me my times up."

"Huh?" Kiba asked with a face full of wings and sauce.

Hinata cracked a smile at the mess he made. She held up a napkin. "If you were followed by a … being in black, what would you think it was?"

Kiba dropped the wing into his pile and took the napkin, getting most of the mess off his fingers and face. "What's it doing?"

Hinata shrugged. "Just standing and staring."

Shino ate his leg with a fork jammed in almost to counter Kiba's mess. "You said following."

"Like it just shows up in the distance and watches." Well, not always at a distance. "Theoretically," Hinata didn't need them thinking she was as crazy as she felt.

"A ghost?" Kiba licked his lips, taking some of the color with it. "Does it have a face?" Hinata nodded. "Red eyes?"

Hinata shook her head. "Black."

"Demon?" Was that what he was?

Shino tilted his head. "Are you writing a book?" What did she tell them, that she imagined a weird character to the point that he was a little too real?

"Nevermind." Hinata pouted. What was stopping her from asking him? Maybe not. If she shouldn't look at it, she shouldn't be talking to it. Hinata sighed and looked past the boys to think. Then her eyes shot down. Lamp-post-man was back again.

Was she committing to not looking at him?

"Anyway." Kiba changed the subject. "If you're not drinking, doesn't that mean I shouldn't?"

Hinata waved her hand. "I don't mind."

"Don't get drunk. I'm not carrying you home." Shino warned him, waving his hand to call the waiter.