Rain pattered on the ground, making the streets mostly empty as the unprepared hid under awnings and inside coffee shops from the warm showers. Cars splashed in the puddles as they drove by, their lights adding to the glitter of the streams of water running down the sidewalk.
A black umbrella bounced down the road with each step toward the bus stop, pausing when it came upon a tall and dark coat waiting under a streetlamp, unfazed by the rain.
Hinata hurried to catch up and hold the umbrella over Itachi. "Where is your umbrella?"
"You have one." Itachi countered.
"If I had known you didn't, I would have hurried. You have a phone now. You should use it." Hinata scolded.
Itachi covered her hand on the umbrella with his to take it from her. "Getting wet didn't seem important enough to make you rush."
Hinata sighed. Maybe what she had attributed to him being an overly logical reaper was just him being dense. "Did your tests go well?"
"I won't know until they run them." Itachi stopped them at the bus stop cover, taking the umbrella down for them as they waited.
Hinata tucked herself around into his elbow, ignoring how wet his coat was. It was like he forgot that he could catch a cold now. Which was particularly silly because he had just come from the hospital to make sure he was healthy.
The bus made an awful screeching sound as it stopped for them to climb on.
It had been a few quiet weeks since he had become human. Itachi adapted surprisingly well, other than the odd time he ran into someone when he wasn't paying attention or he said something on his mind that Shino and Kiba could hear. However, that was probably just an excuse to say what he wanted.
Hinata looked for Kisame for the first few weeks, hoping to thank him before she realized that she was feeling lighter and not suddenly feeling anguish that wasn't hers. After a few more weeks without seeing a single lost soul, they determined that whatever happened when she died also took away her sight beyond the living.
Hinata took off the ring and put it next to the picture of her sister, which had been joined by a picture of Sasuke that they found looking through press coverage of the Uchiha family.
Itachi still had some living family that would remember him, but they could probably safely avoid them by being careful. Like today.
Itachi held her hand as they trailed off the bus and opened the umbrella over her head as they walked the rest of the way to the rows of graves they were both familiar with.
Itachi stopped them just past Hanabi's grave, and Hinata crouched down to set to work, opening the bag she was carrying and setting out Sasuke's offerings. "It's a little early for your birthday, but we hope you understand why we can't visit that day."
"He would still hold it against me," Itachi said with a smile on his face. "Brat."
Hinata smiled up from her spot, folding her hands around her knees. "I think Hanabi-chan would have liked him."
"They would have hated each other." Itachi disagreed, crouching down with her. "But that's because they were both brats."
Hinata giggled, looking up at her sister's grave. "That's rude, she's right there."
Itachi didn't defend himself. He just stayed there quiet for a moment, staring at the etching on the grave before laying his head on her shoulder.
Itachi was tired. Medical school was long hours of training on top of studying late nights for exams. He just wanted to lay down, but he didn't have time to rest. "Happy birthday." He told Sasuke as he held up a gift bag through his bedroom door.
Sasuke rolled over in his bed with a pout. "You're late."
"It's still your birthday." Itachi came in to sit on the edge of the bed and lay the present down.
"Barely." Sasuke nodded at the clock, showing that his birthday was technically almost over.
"I made it. Don't pout." Itachi laid a hand on him. "Do you want you're present?"
"No." Sasuke moved to curl around his arm, trapping him from leaving.
Itachi heart broke. Sasuke just wanted quality time, and Itachi had so little time lately. Itachi kicked off his slippers and pulled his legs up to lie down. At least he could kill two birds with one stone. Spend some time with his brother on his birthday and get some rest.
Itachi looked over his results, flipping pages as he tuned out the doctor explaining them. He could read it. He knew what it meant. He wanted to jump to the not-gentle part to know if he still had what he did before he died. He didn't want to be talked down. He had already gone through the devastation once.
"… but your results all seem normal. I am not sure why you thought you might have that condition. It's not genetic." The doctor tapped the results.
"Thank you." Itachi bowed his head as he left with his results.
This was the one thing that had kept him up at night since becoming human. He was worried that their days would be numbered.
Was this another gift from Kisame?
Itachi hoped when he did go, Kisame was the one to take him so that he could thank him. That bastard was probably laughing at him for worrying.
"We're here!" Hinata called as Itachi tailed behind her into the shop.
"I'm in the back!" Kiba called.
"We brought breakfast," Hinata called back, putting a covered dish on the counter. Kiba appeared shortly after with the draw of food.
"Did you cook it, did he?" Kiba teased as he grabbed some. Itachi didn't hide his smile as Hinata scowled. "I need a hand. You want to help." Itachi shrugged. "Cool, I can't hold both wrenches and adjust the tension."
Itachi didn't really have a skill for fixing things, maybe people, but he couldn't do that without redoing his entire degree. But for the shop, he could handle the paperwork and the register, and they found that overall, he was good for business. They had a lot more girls come in, which Hinata found funny because Itachi barely acknowledged them to side-eye her through the part in her racks.
Maybe he was used to not being perceived, so he forgot that he was attractive, or maybe he liked it better when no one could see him.
"Mm." Kiba suddenly got a thought with his mouth full. "Shino left something last night he needs fixed." He brushed off his hands and reached under the counter to hold it out to Hinata. "It's a small hole, but I think he has a date or something."
"He has a date?" Hinata wondered.
"I don't know, he didn't say much. Can you blame him? You didn't tell us you had a whole boyfriend for how long." Kiba stuffed more in his mouth before he flicked his hand toward the back room for Itachi to follow him.
It's not like she could have told them. Itachi leaned down to kiss her pout with a grin. At least someone found it funny.
Hinata brought her hand back from the kettle and hissed. Itachi padded around from what he was doing to put her hand under cold water. "We need a new kettle."
"I know," Hinata mumbled as she dried her hands and went to the bathroom for the first aid kit while Itachi finished making their tea.
Hinata met him in the living room with the kit that she placed between their mugs and dug inside for burn cream. Itachi stopped her hands to take over, squeezing some ointment out and wrapping it in a band-aid before he closed his hand over hers. "This was one of the few times being cold was helpful."
"I never minded you being cold." Hinata reached for her mug and pulled her legs up across his.
Itachi sipped his own, placing his free hand on her leg. "You're still very warm."
Hinata rolled her head to the side and smiled. She didn't think she would be happy with being happy again. It wasn't something that she thought she would ever allow herself to do, but even if she still felt like what she had done was wrong, dwelling on it even after Hanabi told her to let her go would be an insult to her now.
"We should leave something at the altar for Kisame-san this week," Hinata told Itachi.
Itachi nodded in quiet agreement as he set down his cup and laid to the side into her stomach. Hinata reached behind her to blindly put her mug down to wrap her arms around his shoulders and snuggled down onto the couch, pulling a blanket off the back of the couch onto him.
Itachi kept forgetting that he could get cold now, but that was okay. Hinata would make sure he would stay warm.