That chilly October morning Itachi found himself in-charge of the headquarters. Kisame took off early to do some personal errands. Fudo had descended to the village market to do groceries. The only ones left in the gigantic building were him and his sleeping ward.
"You took a lot of risk postponing your treatment for her sake. Make sure she stays alive. I'd be really cross if we went to all that trouble and end up with a corpse."
Sora's words still rang clear in his head a few days after. Without a doubt the medic-nin meant it when she said she'd go after his head, Sharingan and all, if he allowed any harm to fall on the newly patched up Shiori. But with the way she rolled around in the tatami mats and had minutes-long monologues in her sleep, Itachi felt confident that he didn't have to do much for her.
Come midday the lone shinobi had retreated back to their abode after spending hours honing his taijutsu and knife-throwing skills. He had rounded the last corner on his way to the kitchen when he saw a slumped figure toddling against the stone walls. With slow, deliberate steps, Shiori shuffled her way to the dining area.
"You shouldn't be out of bed," he called out causing the girl to jump in surprise.
"Can you not sneak up on me like that?" she snapped. The sudden movement sent a shot of pain in her abdomen that made her double over. "You're scary enough as it is!"
Ignoring her verbal jabs, the Uchiha walked over to her and took her by the forearm. "Let me help you back to bed. Sora-san won't to be too happy if she sees you up." He slowly steered the girl away from the kitchen and towards the bedrooms.
"Itachi, you don't understand I - "
The loud grumble of Shiori's stomach made the tandem pause. Neither moved as the undeniable sounds of hunger stretched on for a few more seconds.
"- am starving," she continued in a small voice, face red from embarrassment. She began to sway on her feet prompting the shinobi to hold on to her with both hands.
"Please let me eat." Shiori had not eaten since the morning of the ill-fated mission. Now she was ravenous.
Itachi bit his lip. "Well, Fudo-san had gone out to do groceries and he's not back yet. I don't think we have anything to cook."
"Nooo," the famished girl sighed, resting her forehead against his chest. Itachi stiffened at the unexpected contact and gently pushed her away from him.
"Shiori-san..."
"Can I eat one of your crows?"
What little affection he had felt towards his ward flew out of the window upon hearing her suggestion. An image of Shiori happily devouring the crow that contained Shisui's eye crossed his mind and he had the sudden urge to drop her. He didn't even dignify her question with a response.
"I'm not joking, man. If I don't eat soon I'll pass out. Again."
Itachi left her learning against the wall before he headed to the kitchen. There was the soft sound of the refrigerator being rummaged through. When he returned, he had a cardboard box in his hands.
"Say, Shio-san. What do you think about day-old dangos?"
She could have cried on the spot.
"Like heaven on a stick."
"Is it that strange that I stash leftover dango? You look surprised."
"No. I'm surprised that you didn't finish all of them in one go."
As far as Shiori was aware, Itachi was forever in love with three objects: Sasuke, Konoha, and dango. She had glimpses of a younger version of him easily finishing half a dozen servings of the sweet dumplings in a single sitting. She doubted that his sweet tooth grew smaller as he grew older.
On her insistence, the two had settled down on a porch near the dining area before attacking the box of dango Itachi had bought the previous day. Every once in awhile he would ask her how she was feeling and how her injuries were healing to which she replied positively. They entertained the thought that perhaps Kisame was on a date and wondered briefly how the Samehada was going to react to that. Itachi even surprised her with a weather joke that was so witty she actually chuckled. For the most part they both stayed quiet, feeling contented with each others' company and the sweets they had in hand.
"I almost forgot." Itachi's right hand dug into the pocket of his trousers and took out a pack of cigarettes. "These are from Kisame-san. He said he couldn't get his hands on a get-well card so he got you these instead."
Shiori laughed as she took the cigarettes from him with a grateful bow. "I bet he's too embarrassed to buy a card and took the easy way out."
"I bet you're right." Itachi's eyes never left the dark-haired girl as she peeled the box open and took out one stick. He held out his hand and conjured a tongue of flame for her to light her cigarette on. Shiori winked at him before taking a long drag, letting the nicotine soak in her chest before blowing out a cloud of smoke with a satisfied smile.
"My first cigarette in two years," she mumbled before taking another drag. This time it was shorter. The curious look on Itachi's face made her feel self-conscious.
"What?" she asked, smoke curling out of her lips.
Itachi looked down, fumbling at the wooden skewer in his hands. "I just realized that aside from your bloodline limit, I hardly know anything about you at all."
"That's weird coming from Konoha's biggest enigma." Despite everything she had glimpsed in his memories, Uchiha Itachi still remained a mystery to her. And as enticing as this made him, she had become too jaded to delude herself with the belief that she was the girl who can figure him out and change him for the better. If his parents and little brother couldn't get him to open up then she doubted she could get the job done either.
"You're a bit of an enigma yourself, Shiori-san." He threw a sideway glance at her.
"Not really. The difference between you and me, Itachi-san, is that with me, all you have to do is ask."
It was all the consent Itachi needed to hear. "You smoke?"
In response, she waved the lit cigarette in front of him. Duh.
"I regularly did at one time. It's a long story."
He leaned forward and took another stick of tri-coloured dango. "I'll be the judge of that."
Shiori blew out a puff of smoke and continued, "Right. This guy broke up with me when I was sixteen. He was my first love, first everything, so naturally when he called it quits, life turned into a shitfest, for lack of a better word. It was bad. My self-esteem was on the dirt. I cried constantly, which was bad enough as it was but it got worse because my bestfriend Miyako always cried too whenever she saw me cry. So I came up with this brilliant idea. Every time I felt a new batch of tears coming I would light up a cigarette and make up this silly excuse that the smoke was making me tear up. Wanna hear something sillier? She believed me." She chuckled as she drew in another drag. "So there you go. Now you can't say I never told you anything."
'You look so much like him.' She had wanted to say, if only to get it out of her chest, the personal bias she felt that drew her and at the same time repelled her from him.
There was a long pause as Itachi chewed quietly. Shiori couldn't help but wonder whether she had made a blunder by telling him something so personal. Itachi may be nice to her now but he was still the same person who called her a tool, something he can use and dispose off whenever he deemed suitable. A sinking feeling came over her when she realized that this could be one of his mind games, one that didn't need genjutsu because of how easy his target was.
"What a fool." Itachi's judgement came out swiftly and it hurt. She could almost feel her newly-repaired intestines rip open once again with his harsh verdict.
"True. I was beyond foolish."
"Not you. Him." His eyes were the color of onyx when he looked at her. "If you could care for your friend that much with a broken heart then I can only imagine what you're capable of with your heart intact. I don't know the entire story but from what little I know, he sounds like a fool for letting you go."
'If he's tricking me into trusting him again then I'm sold. He's good.'
She couldn't help it. She smiled. She smiled wider when he smiled back, not with a phony half smile or with that smile that never quite reached his eyes but with a genuine one. It lit up his entire face. It was a smile she only ever saw in memories which involved Shisui or Sasuke and once with Izumi.
"I guess we have one thing in common, Itachi-san. We both care too much."
"Hn."
"Shiori-san, there's something I need to tell you."
It was late in the afternoon and the atmosphere grew colder with the coming dusk. What started as an impromptu lunchbreak between the two stretched into idle chitchat which lasted for hours. Sometime during the day, the dango box had been pushed on one corner. The cigarettes were forgotten. While talking and exchanging witty comebacks, they managed to shuffle nearer to each other until they ended up sitting side by side on the edge of the floorboards, their legs dangling above well-kept moss. They sat close enough that Itachi's arm would brush against hers and there would only be the fabric of her shirt standing between her and his memories.
That side of the shinobi emerged once again. And rather than insult the Uchiha for being a two-faced trickster, Shiori had decided she was fed up with all the hate. She was going to indulge to this side of him while she could. The chances of her getting close enough to Itachi to know the real him were slim to none. This lukewarm version of him was the best she could hope for.
"Are you listening to me?"
Shiori nodded and he continued. "That mission nearly cost you your life. If it were up to me, I'd limit your jobs to interrogations done in secured headquarters. But I'm afraid I'm not in the position to stop them if they send you out again."
"Can I do it without trying to seduce someone at least?"
Itachi's hands curled into fists as his gaze landed on a prominent bruise at the side of her neck. "I can't promise you that either. Is that...Jiro's?"
A flash of heat spread across her cheeks as she let her hair fall over the ghastly sight. "His last hurrah, which was the only thing he managed to do fortunately."
"Right. Having said that, I think it's wise that you take up a new skill to better arm yourself."
Shiori scoffed at this. "If you think you can make me carry shurikens in my bra then you are mistaken. Sorry Itachi-san but I think there's a greater chance that I'd end up stabbing myself with the things rather than hitting the enemy with them. It's not going to work."
"I'm afraid I have to agree with you on that one," Itachi replied. "Actually I was wondering if there is anything we can do about your chakra control."
His Sharingan activated, turning his irises into the bright red color that was both feared and revered by many shinobi.
"You have a leaky chakra. It's not something you notice with the naked eye but my Sharingan allows me to observe it. For sensor types, shinobi with the ability to sense chakra, you're as visible as a flare torch."
Shiori remembered something that Sasori mentioned to them back in the mansion. "It was a sensor type who came after us that night."
"True. Sasori and Deidara are adept at concealing their chakra so they were well off against him. That night they thought they didn't conceal their chakra well enough and blamed themselves for being caught. I believe the reason that shinobi spotted your group wasn't because of them."
Shiori's heart sank at this. "He followed the flare torch."
"That's right. And he threw the blade at it...at you. I've always thought you could use some training on controlling your chakra. It wasn't until after this incident, when they've confirmed that they intend to send you out in the field rather than keep you hidden in safe houses that I realized this skill is a necessity for you. I can't teach you how to fight like a shinobi but I can teach you how to hide like one. I only have enough time to teach you the principles and techniques. I'll leave the mastery to you."
"Don't expect me to get it right in an instant but I'll definitely try." Shiori wasn't too keen on getting skewered the second time around.
"There's one more thing." By the time she met his gaze, his Sharingan had deactivated. "I've been observing your chakra flow everytime your read someone. If you can master concealing it, there will be a side effect in store for you, one that I think you'd like."
"A side effect?"
"How do you feel about being able to touch people without having to intrude their memories?"
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thank you for the few of you who took the time to review. I swear to god you guys always make my day. For the silent readers, followers and those who hit favorite, thank you very much as well. I'm not above begging for reviews because really, I don't get to see you guys. So it's the only way I get to find out about your thoughts in this thing. If you're not in a hurry, no bus to catch or train to chase, do leave a review. XDD Hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Will try to do a more Itachi-centric piece in the next couple of chapters. It's gonna be tough because I don't know if anyone is sure of how Itachi's mind works. He's just so...weird.