Itachi watched her turn the corner. She wasn't looking over her shoulder for him anymore. What changed?
"There you are." Kisame flashed up beside him. "I've been looking for you."
"Not very hard." Itachi side-eyed him.
Kisame pointed at him. "Your weird girl waved at me."
Now that was interesting. "When?"
"I was on assignment, and she just showed up and was staring at me." Kisame waved his hand beside him. "Like right beside me."
"Did she say anything?" Itachi tilted his head curiously.
"No. When I looked at her, she just waved." Kisame mimicked. "How does she look at this." He waved at himself. "And just innocently wave."
"It is strange, isn't it?" Itachi stared off in the direction she went. "She's seen you with me, so she must have put it together."
"You need to stop." Kisame stepped in his eye line. "She's already hurt you. Now she knows about me. I don't like this."
"What are you worried about? She didn't attack you." Itachi countered.
"Okay, what do you plan to do? Stalk her until she dies?" Kisame waved his arms out. "She's not normal."
"She's surprised but not scared," Itachi said thoughtfully.
"You're not listening to me at all, are you?" Itachi answered by disappearing. "Damn it," Kisame growled.
Hinata hesitated before walking up her stairs. Itachi was by her door. Should she ignore him? Hinata got out her keys and started up the stairs. Itachi waited at the top. She glanced at him and then flinched. She really shouldn't have. A smile twitched on his face. He knew she could see him.
Hinata cringed as she went to work to try and open her door, hoping that this time the door would open the first time to make the less awkward. Unfortunately, she was never so lucky. She sighed, resting her head against the door. Well, he saw this before anyway, right?
Itachi's cold hand covered hers and turned the knob. The door opened. His head tilted as if to ask her if she was going to say something to him now.
"Thank you," Hinata whispered, pulling her keys and her hand out from under his hand.
Itachi flinched, yanking his hand back. Hinata jerked her arms back to her chest. Did she hurt him again? His eyes slid up from a red burn across his hand to her keys.
The trinket?! It came from her mother's box too. Hinata pushed her door open and tossed her keys in, not wanting him to think she was trying to threaten him. Itachi tilted his head at her hands up to show she meant no harm. "Sorry. I didn't know it did that."
Itachi made a fist with his injured hand. The cut in his coat mocked her. She felt awful for hurting him twice now.
Footsteps came down from the next apartment. Hinata stepped into her apartment, waving him in. Itachi raised an eyebrow at her as she closed the door before her neighbor passed. He appeared on the other side of the door before she could get her shoes off.
"Are you okay?" Hinata hesitated to reach out to him.
Itachi readily held his hand out, showing the burn on his hand. "I am not used to pain."
Hinata gently held up his hand to examine it. The burns glowed like a hot iron. It wasn't like seared flesh. It was like his hand was actually still burning in a line across his palm and scared on his fingers. She wasn't sure it would help, but she pulled him to her first aid kit and fumbled out a cream. "This might be cold." She smoothed the cream over with her finger, and the burn disappeared, leaving the cream. "Huh?"
Did he heal that fast? Was she being silly trying to help? Maybe, but Itachi looked just as confused as she did. "You healed it."
"No…" Hinata shocked her head. She swiped her finger across another burn on his cold hand again. The burn was gone. "This shouldn't…"
"You're doing it," Itachi repeated.
"I… I don't think so?" Hinata slid her bare finger over the rest of the burn and then disappeared along with the tightness in his brow. Itachi wasn't in pain anymore.
Hinata released his hand to cap the cream. Itachi stretched his hand curiously. Another question for the growing pile.
"Why did you go to the wedding?" Hinata closed her kit to find Itachi staring into her soul. Maybe she should feel embarrassed that he saw all that, but curiosity seemed pure. "Was groom your brother?" Itachi added before she could form a response.
"Cousin." Hinata correct. "But our fathers are twins, so we look similar. I went because I was invited."
"But not welcome." Itachi was digging into her soul with these questions. Is that what grim reapers did? Look into your soul?
"I'm not really welcome in the family." Hinata swallowed the lump in her throat because the next question was the one she always answered honestly. Why? Why was she not welcome? It was the question that made her alone because she didn't feel like she could lie.
The question that made everyone leave her.
"How come you can see me now?" Did he see her discomfort and moved on, or was he too curious about his next question to wait?
"Oh." Hinata held out her hand. "This ring. I don't know what it is. It was my mother's."
Itachi carefully ran a finger over it, like he expected it to burn him too, but when it didn't, he slid his hand over her whole hand to run his thumb over it to memorize the details. "But you weren't wearing it before, in the rain."
"Uh, no, I took it off." Hinata felt her face heat. Itachi didn't really have a touch boundary. It made sense when she couldn't see him, but not that she could. It felt like she was invading him by letting him touch her because he didn't understand. Or did he and he didn't care?
Itachi's head tilted toward the floor, where she tossed her keys.
"That was my mother's too. Sorry again. I didn't know." Hinata took the opportunity to slip her hand away, pick up her keys from the floor, and put them back in her purse before turning to him. "I… I can fix your coat."
Itachi turned his head to the hole. He shrugged his coat off and held it out to her. His frame was smaller under it, thinner. Hinata reached for the coat. Could she take it? Would that make it real? Would other people be able to see it, or just her? She felt its weight. It definitely felt real.
Hinata brought it to her chest as she padded to pull her sewing kit back out.
Itachi tucked his hands behind him as his eyes skimmed her apartment. "What are you?" Itachi asked. "Are you human?"
"I…?" How was she supposed to answer that? "I think so?" Hinata turned the coat inside out and threaded a needle. It felt wrong that the coat was cold and spotless, like it was never worn. It smelled like ash, but not cigarettes. Like a faint smell, like something was burned. Was he at that fire too? Shouldn't it smell much stronger if he was? It smelled like the coat had that smell for a long time.
Hinata stitched the outer wool together, then the lining. Running her finger over the outside to make sure the stitch was seamless before she held it back out, realizing she had his full attention again.
Hinata's eyes fell to his shoulder where the burn should have been, but his shirt wasn't burned like his coat was. Did he still have the burn underneath?
Itachi slid the coat back on, brushing his fingers off the fix. He nodded at her. "Thank you." And he was gone.
… Should she think that was rude?
Itachi ran his fingers over the fix in his coat. It was simple, clean, and unnecessary and brought a smile to his face. It didn't make him any colder to have a hole in his coat, but it was something humans worried about, or maybe just her.
He stretched out his hand, remembering the pain. She wasn't aware she had a weapon that could injure him, but why throw it away once she knew? Why toss your only defense? She wasn't aware she could heal him, but she tried to soothe his pain?
Hinata wanted him to trust her. To know she meant no harm to him.
Why?