Hinata crossed another day off her date book. Three days. That's all she had left. Her stomach twisted in notes as she tapped the tip of the pen on the circled day. The question now was… did she go? Hinata looked out at the clear evening at the light post. She sat here again. Did she even mean to?
Now that she was here, she didn't have the rain to make an excuse to sit and wait for him. Maybe her purse just hit the rack, and she imagined the rest.
Did she dream up a person just to hurt them? Was she that cruel? Even the people in her head got hurt?
The red circle mocked her. Maybe she shouldn't go. If she scheduled a doctor's appointment that day, would it be a good enough excuse? Hinata rubbed her face. What was she thinking? The only way she was getting out of it was dying.
And her father might still scold her grave.
Did she have to take a date?
Hinata thumbed over her mother's ring. She should take it off. If her father recognized it, he would want it back. She slid it off her finger and tucked it into her purse. No chance she was going to forget if she did it now.
Hinata collected her things and waved good night to the staff as she head home.
Cold air brushed her skin as she walked past the lamppost. She took a long look at it, listening to the dull electrical hum. What was he doing when he now? Hinata rolled her eyes at herself. Thinking about her imaginary friend was becoming her default when she wanted to avoid her own demons. She was annoying herself at this point.
Hinata ran out of questions, and she wasn't going to get answers. If he was in her head, then only she could answer the questions. If he wasn't, then she would never know.
Period.
Stop thinking about it.
Hinata huffed at the lamppost as it flickered, threatening to go out before it stabilized again. Even it was laughing at her.
She wasn't going to work today, or the store, or the graveyard. She came out of her apartment dressed up and in a hurry, nearly missing her bus. She stood in her high heels on the bus will no seat available and stumbled when her heel got caught in the grove of the step as she got off.
Itachi followed at a distance as she walked, stepping carefully like her shoes were already hurting her for another few blocks before she entered a church where a wedding was being held. She didn't greet the bride and groom. In fact, she didn't say a word to anyone. She hovered around the edges of the crowd in her thin coat, taking the brunt of the wind gusting past the guests. When the ceremony started, she sat in the back, far from the aisle.
She wasn't welcome.
The man getting married looked like he could be her brother. It was the cheekbones. The one thing that didn't sit softly on her face. She watched with a smile on her face but left before the bride and groom came back down the aisle as man and wife.
She dropped off a card on her way out and walked home. The whole way home. Slowly monotonously, painfully. With her head hung and shoulders hunched, looking at her feet like she was only paying attention to the pain her shoes were causing. Torturing herself.
When she got to the steps before her apartment, she stopped at the bottom. "One… two… three…" She whispered to herself before she started up the stairs just as slowly as before, rhythmically clicking the heels against the concrete, only broken by an occasional scrape.
She made it to her apartment and took a moment to jiggle her keys in the door. It didn't work the first time or the second. She closed her eyes and tried the third time. Then she sighed and lowered her head. "You deserve this." She whispered to herself. She sat down on her doorstep and pulled off her shoes, looking at the damage she caused. Poking around it with the tip of her finger.
She rested her head back on the door frame, turning her face toward the sky and closing her eyes. "Now would be a really good time for rain." She sniffed, her lip curling up.
Itachi could grant that wish.
She flinched as raindrops hit her face. She squinted as the sprinkles turned into a full downpour. A smile spread across her face as her tears were hidden by the rain just as they started to fall. She sat there in the rain to cry. She eventually ducked her head into her knees when she couldn't keep quiet anymore.
Why did she go if she wasn't welcome? If Itachi was right, and it was her brother, should she be 'in' the wedding, not sitting in the back? Was he wrong? They weren't related. Would she go to the wedding of the man she loved just to watch him marry someone else?
Itachi had seen worse. Humans were often disappointing, and lucky him, he got to see them most on the worst day of their life. The end.
And the last time he cared about those left behind… he got too attached.
Itachi saw a lot of tortured humans, he saw humans torture themselves to death, but with her, it was like living was what she was torturing herself with. She didn't get frustrated with the stair when she was tired, take off her shoes when they hurt, or bang on her door when it wouldn't open.
And she cried in the rain.
She was defeated.
She was destroyed.
Young, healthy, and stable, but humans need more than that, didn't they?
She was alone.
She only regularly saw the men she worked with, and she only spent one night out with them after work the whole time he watched. No wonder she was looking for dark figures around corners. She was lonely.
Itachi found himself walking toward her, stopping shy of her arm reach, catching himself. His arm was healed, but his coat still had the hole she put in his shoulder.
She lifted her face to wipe it and jumped. Itachi froze, but instead of meeting his eyes, her's darted around in the area he was standing. Like she only saw him for a moment and lost him.
She pulled herself up, stepping toward him in her bare feet, staring at the flooring under his shoes, and reaching her hand forward. Itachi straightened as her hand came closer, just shy of his chest. When her hand laid fat on his chest, her eyes shot up to his face.
She could see him now.
She reeled back, tripping on her shoes and stumbling back. Itachi launched his arm forward around her back, keeping her from banging her head on the door. She came forward, smashing her face into his chest. He used too much force to pull her up.
She covered her nose and whimpered before slowly looking up at him more calmly. Itachi stared back for too long before he realized that he should let go. He stepped back, removing his hands, and she blinked before reaching forward and putting her hand back on his chest. Removing it and putting back again.
She could only see him when they were touching. But then, how was she looking at him before? With her hand flat on his chest, her eyes fell from his face to his shoulder, where his coat was burned through.
A thin line of blood came out of her nose, washing down her face with the rain. Itachi raised his hand to it, but she flinched and removed her hand from him to cover it as she realized. Itachi stepped back. The absence of her hand… felt cold?
She tried to swipe her non-dominate hand to find him again, but he was out of her range. She sighed, tipping her head back and turning the lock again. Itachi flicked his hand the door opened for her.
Itachi stopped himself from following her in. He needed to curb his curiosity. She knew when he was there, especially if she was close. But it was intermittent again like it was in the beginning. For a while, it seemed like she could look right at him. He started hiding to watch her. Did he not need to?
Itachi put his hand over his chest. Warmth. It was still there despite the cold. Humans were warm, even in the cold rain.