Kisame could tell that Itachi was considerably weakened by the fight. Not wanting to risk the chance of exposing a vulnerable comrade to unexpected attacks, he offered to collect the mission fee by himself, to which Itachi quickly agreed to. Him and Shiori were instructed to wait in a small minshuku located in the outskirts of Earth Country. Kisame and Shiori shared the more spacious room while Itachi had a cramped room to himself.
"You wouldn't want to be in the same room with him when he's being grumpy," Kisame explained to the younger ward. "Neither do I."
In the privacy of his room, Itachi felt safe enough to lay out the numerous bottles and pouches holding his medications on the cool surface of the tatami mats. There was one for every ailment he could think of. If there had been a lottery that gave away diseases instead of cash, one would think that the nineteen-year old won the jackpot. Itachi sighed as he took one of the bottles and rolled it in his palm. The familiar click of pills against glass usually gave him reassurance. It gave none of that tonight. He knew why the pain had reached unbearable intensity when he used the Mangekyo Sharingan earlier that day. The current doses of his meds were no longer enough to keep the symptoms of his sickness at bay. He needed stronger doses. This wouldn't have bothered him that much if it wasn't for the fact that Sora had increased the strength of his pills only a few months ago. The aging medic-nin never told him the implications of this but Itachi knew well enough. He could only take so much drugs before the substances turned against him.
The presence of a familiar chakra hovering outside his door caused him to look up. He narrowed his eyes at the untouched panel before quickly shoving his secret stash in his bag. He waited for Shiori to gather enough courage to knock. The minutes ticked by and all the girl seemed to do was stand there. Once, she made a move to walk away but swiftly changed her mind and went back to her spot outside his room. Itachi sighed in exasperation.
"How long do you plan on standing there?" He called out. "Come in."
He stood up just as she opened the sliding door and slipped inside his small sleeping quarters. The shorter girl looked up to him and was greeted with his signature Uchiha frown.
"You're slacking on your chakra control." His statement had an accusatory tone in it that made her feel guilty.
"I am, aren't I?" Shiori murmured bashfully.
A long stretch of silence ran between the both of them, long enough for the two to notice the toll that the day's mission took on each other. Shiori had dark circles under her eyes while Itachi looked sickly pale. Both looked equally haunted.
"What's wrong?" Itachi asked, breaking the deafening spell.
Shiori stepped closer to him as she replied, gray eyes never leaving his. "I don't know Itachi. You tell me." When he refused to answer, she added, "You're sick. And I'm not talking about being temporarily under the weather. Whatever it is, you've had it for a while and it's not going anywhere."
Itachi remained stoic. "You sound so sure of yourself, considering all you have are assumptions."
"I may be a civilian and I may not know the first thing about ninjutsu but I'm not an idiot. Besides, everyone knows that chest pains aren't good...neither are fainting spells."
"I'm fine - "
"Itachi - "
"- and even if I'm not, my personal affairs do not concern you."
Shiori chuckled mirthlessly. "See that's where you're wrong. Of course they concern me because those personal affairs scare the hell out of me. They concern me because whether you like it or not, I'm obliged to look after you. That's what being in a team is all about."
"Kisame and I make up the team," Itachi scoffed. "You're just a ward. Don't forget your place."
She swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth before replying, "Look. I haven't forgotten what I am to the Akatsuki but that's the least of my concerns right now. Uchiha Itachi, you can't expect me to just stand and watch - "
"Shiori - " he warned.
"- because you matter to me too!"
Itachi cursed inwardly. He couldn't help but think that perhaps his tactless declaration from earlier lured her into saying something so reckless. Had she forgotten who he was and what he had done? The possibility made him hate himself. He hated himself more when he realized that he was blushing. He was used to being in control and now he was anything but.
"Please. I'm begging you. Tell me what's wrong so that I can at least try to help you."
Instincts kicked in and the shinobi did what he did best. He lied.
"I don't want your help," he spat back, voice rising as the two stood nose to nose with each other. "Don't think for one second that you know how to fix me just because you had a glimpse inside my head. From the beginning you've been nothing but dead weight, an inconvenience I do not need. I've been struggling to make our circumstances tolerable so please, don't be more of a burden than you already are."
The words hit home for Shiori and all she could do was stand in place as Itachi made a move to unpack the rest of his belongings. He needed to do something, anything other than see the look on her face. He had wanted to chase her away with his words and he realized that he did it too well. He might as well have slapped her.
When he couldn't ignore her any longer, he stood up from where he was crouching on the floor, their backs against each other.
"You can't handle the truth. So don't go around snooping about things that could break you."
His words woke up something in Shiori and it made her ears burn. "Now who's the one with all the assumptions? Don't mess with my head, not when you're the one who can't handle the truth." She turned around to face him, a subtle act of defiance. Itachi turned to match her glare with his own.
"Hn. And what is this truth?"
"That you're a deluded, arrogant...jerk." She dared him to challenge her words. When he didn't say anything, she continued, "I didn't know how you did it but you've managed to fool yourself into thinking that you got everything figured out. You think you're a couple of steps ahead of everybody, don't you? Well you're not. We're all in the same Hell, Itachi. You're smart but you're just as screwed as everyone else. You wanna remain alone and miserable, then fine. Suit yourself."
He could've killed her then and there. He could've punched a hole through her chest. He could've trapped her in an eternal genjutsu. Shiori knew all these were possible. So before he could decide to do any of those things, she turned tail and hurried out of the room.
They didn't speak to each other after their no-holds-barred argument. Even Kisame noticed the tension between the two and grew resentful at Shiori for making his partner crabbier than ever. As payback the duo often left her at the mercy of Zetsu, who tormented her with his curiosity for the taste of human flesh and his obsession with poop. Other days she was stuck with Hidan and Kakuzu, even on missions that didn't require her ability. On these odd circumstances Kakuzu gave her the task of haggling for food and weapons. Hidan on the other hand constantly attempted to convert her into a Jashinist on the first few days. Once after the immortal psychopath concluded that she was unworthy of his religion, their conversation led to a very awkward topic.
"So neither of them tried to sleep with you? Not even once?"
Shiori imagined the gigantic Kisame giving her the come hither look, only to run away when she tried to touch him. The mental image made her chuckle.
"Hate to break it to you Hidan-san but no they have not. And why would they? You all are paid enough to be able to sleep with whoever you like."
They were in the Akatsuki headquarters in Takigakure, polishing kunais and shurikens in preparation for an ambush mission. Kakuzu locked himself in his room while counting the ryos the organization had earned for that month.
"You have a point," Hidan replied, piling his shurikens in a neat column. "It would be a waste of hard-earned money if I gotta pay to fuck you."
Shiori shrugged. "I'm not your type. I get it."
"But I was pretty certain Itachi-kun would at least try to. You seem like his type."
Shiori took a kunai and sharpened it on a whetstone. "You guessed wrong."
"Well shit," Hidan replied wryly. "I've been told that I'm quite a good guesser."
Itachi proved he could excel at keeping grudges and ignored her as the weeks dragged on. Kisame now found the whole situation entertaining and continuously egged the young shinobi on bullying his ward. They only stopped after a botched mission with Hidan and Kakuzu left her in a catatonic state from being trapped in a genjutsu. Itachi had no choice but to release her. His first word at the shaken Shiori after two months of giving her the cold shoulder had been a very intense, very loud, "fool". She kept her hateful facade but on the inside, she couldn't deny the fact that she was glad.
Even after they resumed being civil with each other, their conversation from that night was not brought up over the course of several missions. Still, the words stayed with Itachi, mulling inside him, throbbing and stinging with their truthfulness even as he tried to ignore them. He didn't want to admit it but it made him realize one thing: Shiori saw through his smoke and mirrors and it wasn't because she saw his memories. Anyone could have done the same mental invasion to him and yet only a few if anyone at all could come to the same conclusion she did. Sotome Shiori saw him for what he was and she did so without the use of any jutsu. In his book, that was enough to make her formidable.
Despite the advanced ranks of the shinobi involved, rarely does a mission go as smoothly as planned. Not every single factor can be accounted for. Hence, despite a mission's success, one could say that the shinobi's struggle was real in achieving such victory. That day's mission was not an exception.
Blood had been spilled. A handful of jonins fell under the Samehada's blade and the Sharingan's prowess. The high-ranking target had been assassinated. It was a win for the Akatsuki but one that caused Kisame and Itachi a couple of blows to their flesh and bones.
Iwagakure was in uproar upon realizing that the criminal organization had infiltrated their walls. The duo had no choice but to go underground and hide while they waited for the mania to subside. With Konan's help, they found tunnels disguised as sewers which ran underneath the hidden village. These passageways led to an exit situated on the floor hatch of a safe house in a small town in Earth Country. Shiori was at the exit, acting as a lookout just as the kunoichi ordered her to do. Once they deemed the coast clear, Konan exited in an explosion of paper cranes. In this case, all S-nins agreed that the immediate relaying of intel gathered from Shiori's reading that morning held more importance than tending to the flesh wounds of the two shinobi.
When the last paper crane disappeared from sight, Shiori's gaze landed on duo. Though both looked well enough to live another day, they also looked as if they had been put through the wringer.
"You guys look terrible," she pointed out. "Need a hand?"
Kisame and Itachi exchanged looks before the former replied.
"I'm still not above killing you if you touch me with your skin." The blue-skinned giant whipped off his top, exposing a back full of deep, angry-looking gashes. He collapsed on one of the kneeling pillows as he waited for Shiori to tend to his wounds. Shiori turned to Itachi, frowning when she noticed patches of skin peeling off of his soot-filled cheeks.
"A water-style jutsu collided with my Fireball Technique," he explained, feeling self-conscious under her scrutiny. "It's nothing serious. Go tend Kisame-san first."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
They didn't speak to each other again until a few hours after when Kisame was fast asleep on the dining table, knocked out by the painkillers he had taken earlier. Shiori was nearly done with Itachi as well and was already putting on strips of plaster on each of his cheeks to prevent the burn creams from drying out. The whole time, the air between the two of them was thick with tension. Itachi's dark eyes never left her since she started working on him. It was all she could do not to let her hands shake.
"What are you up to now, Shiori?" Itachi blurted out, his deep voice echoing in the quiet wooden walls.
Shiori paused, removing her gloved hands from his cheek. "What do you mean?"
"After all those things I called you, why are you still doing this for me?"
Shiori chuckled at this. Despite his intelligence, she couldn't help but notice that his never ending curiosity sometimes made him sound as though he was a young child.
Because you matter to me.
"Let's see...because you're hurt. And it's the kind thing to do. Nothing more to it so don't you worry."
In the dead of the night, Shiori entered the ward's quarters and was surprised to see Itachi on one of its corners. His face was a blank canvas save for the two strips of plaster on his cheeks. That wasn't what bothered her. It was the way he held himself, the way he looked like he might jump at her at any second.
Shiori closed the door behind her and the two stared at each other. In the silence, he sauntered across the room until he was standing right in front of her.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"I still couldn't stop thinking about what you said to me that night."
"Yeah well...me too." She looked up at him and added, "My offer still stands. When you're ready, you can tell me everything."
"I can't." His reply was so soft that it could have been a mere whisper. "All those things you want to know, if I put them into words then I won't be telling you the whole story."
"I see," she murmured, eyes downcast once again, a pang of selfish disappointment weighing heavily on her chest. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she noticed him further closing the small gap between the two of them. Gray met onyx.
"I can't tell you. But I can show you."
He lowered his head until there was less than an inch between them. Her warm chakra enveloped him, strengthening his resolve to do one of the most selfish things he will do in his lifetime. When he heard her gasp, he knew there was no turning back. He couldn't, not anymore.
"Don't hold back."
And with his request hanging in the air, Uchiha Itachi swooped down and captured Shiori's lips with his.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Had to cut this chapter into two because it is quite long (and I'm in a bit of a lazy mood since after going on holiday). Hope you guys enjoyed it. And if you enjoyed it very much please do leave a review. If not, leave a review anyway. You know me, I love hearing from you. For those who already left messages and revs thank you oh so much. You guys are my motivation in continuing this piece. We writers always love hearing from you because it's proof that somebody somewhere is actually taking time to check the story that we have to tell. Till next time. - freedwinner28