"Kisame, Itachi-kun," Mitsuki's call prompted the duo to turn their back as they neared the exit of the village.

"Hmm? You are awake so early? That's unusual," said Kisame with confusion. It was still very early in the morning, and Mitsuki had the tendency to wake up a lot later in the afternoon if there was no work to do or intervention done.

"Hehe, I just wanted to see you guys off," Mitsuki answered with a soft smile. "Take care, you two, see you in a week's time," she added.

Memories of what transpired the previous night popped up in Itachi's mind, slightly bothering him. Catching Itachi's slight frown, Mitsuki smiled wryly and mouthed to him subtly.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," and finished it with a wide cheerful grin.

"Then.. we are leaving," said Itachi to Mitsuki, even if he was still slightly unconvinced.

"Safe trip," waved Mitsuki with a smile. As the two turned their back once more, Mitsuki turned her back as well and walked relaxedly while slightly humming.

"Are you worried?" Kisame asked as he caught Itachi frowning as the two travelled further and further away from their last visited village. Cursing how he had let his emotions surface, Itachi frown got deeper as he glanced towards Kisame, as if reprimanding him for speaking nonsense.

"Well, never mind then," Kisame added with a grin as he caught Itachi's expression.

"Ah.." Itachi exclaimed softly, stopping on his track. Seeing his partner halted, Kisame stopped his steps as well.

"I forgot to pass her some money.." Itachi frowned slightly, remembering Mitsuki's response on his question the previous night.

"Hhhhh," Mitsuki sighed loudly as she strolled through the small town, her frown back on her face.

"Again, I've lied to them, even though I promised I won't," she thought silently with a guilty smile on her face. More than anything, Mitsuki hated being a burden. She knew that by imposing her struggle to both Itachi and Kisame, it would only inconvenience them. After all, Itachi especially, had so many things to deal with already. She wouldn't want to burden him with more, or made him worry about her.

"He shouldn't have to deal with this.." she thought. She knew more than anyone how frustrating and painful it is to have to keep minding one's behaviour and keeping up pretence all the time, back from her time as a Miko, as well as her life full of lies and the worries that came with it. At least, she wanted to be someone, or someplace where Itachi could be himself without reserve, amidst his responsibility and mission, amidst his struggle. Disappointed in herself for almost adding on to Itachi's worry, Mitsuki slapped both of her cheek softly with her palm, as if pepping herself up.

"Focus, Mitsuki," she thought, summoning her spirit back into her eyes. "You have a task! Don't let them down!"

But first, she need to do something about money, or so she thought as her bitter smile resurfaced on her face, all the while regretting her reckless spending so far. Even though Itachi had settled the inn fee for her, she would still need some money if she'd want to eat as much as she'd like it. Deciding that staying still would not help her, Mitsuki begin scouting around the area and asked around.

"Excuse me, do you need someone to help with your shop?" Mitsuki asked a shop house's staff.

"We don't have budget to hire extra worker, sorry," said the owner

"Excuse me, would you need an assistant for your business?" she asked another.

"How long can you commit?"

"Uh.. I'll be here on short term only, a week at most?"

"Sorry then, I don't think it's worth the time for training if you would only stay for a short time," said the boss coldly.

"Excuse me, do you need some help with attending to your café? Temporarily," again, she tried her luck in another place.

"You're late, miss.. The festival season had just came to a close, I don't think we'll need help now, sorry," the owner lady replied guiltily as she saw Mitsuki's disappointment

"Haaaaaa…." Mitsuki sighed loudly while taking a break on the road side's bench. She realised now how lucky she was when Keiko-san accepted her proposition for work. It seemed like finding a job wouldn't usually be that simple.

"Ugh… is it just me, or the town's people tend to be a lot colder as well…" she muttered out loud, reminiscing on some of the strongest rejections that she had received that day. She had tried her best to muster her charm, but somehow it just didn't work. Or so she thought, until..

"Erm.. Excuse me.." A man's voice called out to Mitsuki hesitantly as he approached slowly with a slight blush on his face.

"Hmm?" Mitsuki responded, unsure of the man's intention. Ascertaining his intention, Mitsuki took a peek into the person's soul. One short look at the man's soul, he seemed to be an ordinary person, with rose-colored spark coloring the tip of his soul.

"This is.. affection? Attraction?" thought Mitsuki, unsure. She had often seen the rose colored spark among those who treated her nicely ever since her form had changed, but she had never been able to pinpoint what differentiate it from the other shades of attraction. Nevertheless, the situation was clearly beneficial for her.

"Being a pretty lady is the best!" Mitsuki thought secretly with a hidden mischievous grin in her mind as she kept her outer appearance to be calm and collected as she returned the guy's word with a smile.

"I've heard about your predicament.. You said you needed work badly?" the man enquired hesitantly.

"Mmmhmm, and only for a short while, I'll be leaving in one week's time," Mitsuki replied with a well-crafted sad smile, wondering if her situation will deter the man like how it deterred some of the people she approached before.

"! That won't be a problem!" said the man quickly with excitement, his eyes moved rapidly up and down, as if examining Mitsuki's figure from head to toe.

"Really? What kind of work tho?" she asked. To be honest, the lack of reluctance surprised Mitsuki.

"It's something really easy! I'll make sure to pay you well for it as well!" said the man excitedly, his eyes still hovering about around her.

Upon the man's avoidant answer, Mitsuki frowned slightly. However, before she could ask another thing, the man grabbed her palm.

"Follow me for a while!" said the man excitedly with a cheerful expression on his face. Deciding that there was no harm to just give it a look for a while, Mitsuki nodded and stood up to follow him.

Suddenly, another palm grabbed her wrist from behind, stopping Mitsuki's and the guy's movement. Seeing the ring on the right hand's ring finger, Mitsuki recognised the hand's owner immediately and turned her head to confirm her guess.

Behind her, Itachi stood while keeping his eyes on the guy who was trying to make Mitsuki follow him with a glare.

After realizing that he had left Mitsuki in a penniless state, Itachi had decided to turn back to pass her some allowance in case she might need it, all the while telling Kisame to go ahead towards his destination instead. As usual, finding the elusive girl was never an easy task, especially in such a crowded town. When he finally spotted her, Mitsuki was busy moving from store to store to enquire about work. Deciding that he should wait till she was alone, Itachi observed her movement silently for a while. That was when he noticed that a guy had seemingly been observing her and following her movement as well. Then, as Mitsuki sat dejectedly on the roadside bench, the guy who had been eyeing her for a while finally decided to approach her. That was when Itachi had finally decided to take his action.

"Where are you taking her?" Itachi asked the guy with a firm, cold tone. Hearing his tone and seeing the glare behind the veiled hat, the guy quickly let go of Mitsuki's hand.

"Hmm? He said he will give me some work," Mitsuki interrupted, not sure what the problem was. Seeing the innocent look in her eyes, Itachi shifted his glance once more to the guy with a questioning glare, as if telling him to speak up.

"Ah.. Brother, is she your woman? I didn't know, I swear!" said the guy as he backed off slowly.

Hearing the guy's accusation, Mitsuki almost retorted in surprise. Before she could let out her voice, Itachi gave her wrist a squeeze, as if signalling her to keep quiet.

"T..then, I'll be leaving. I'm sorry, missy!" said the guy as he scrambled away. As the guy disappeared away from the path in the distance, Itachi let go of Mitsuki's wrist, sighing inwardly.

"Eeeeh, what was that," Mitsuki grumbled, "Itachi-kun, what have you done? It's so hard for me to find work today you know?" complained Mitsuki, prompting Itachi to meet her gaze with a frustrated glare.

"W..what? What did I do wrong?" asked Mitsuki in surprise as she saw Itachi's upset expression.

Itachi wondered if Mitsuki really didn't understand what could have happened. He felt like he was going to have a headache if he tried explaining it to her. Skipping the explanation, Itachi remarked,

"Do not follow strangers to unknown places," he said with a reprimanding tone.

"Huh? Don't worry, I made sure to check his soul. Also even if he wanted to hurt me, I can't die anyway, so I'll be fine," Mitsuki retorted with a frown, which only made Itachi glared at her with more intensity. Sighing, Itachi decided to go with enquiry first.

"How could you be so sure he had no ill intention? That guy had watched you for a while before he approached."

"Hmm, his emotion was not a dark one. Its rose colored, pretty sure it's closer to feeling of affection, or attraction. Usually people with that emotion tend to be nicer to me," Mitsuki retorted with annoyance, feeling that Itachi had somehow slipped back to his worrywart self.

"Even without dark emotion, people can still do bad thing," said Itachi as he pinched his eyebrow, not sure how to explain the predicament to the seemingly clueless girl.

Mitsuki was unconvinced, but she didn't really know how to retort. She understood that there are some people who does bad thing for good intention, but she didn't feel that sense of guilt that usually came along with such intention from the previous guy. Moreover, he should have got nothing to gain from her. Seeing the look on Mitsuki's face, Itachi knew that she was unconvinced. As frustration wells up inside him, Itachi approached Mitsuki.

"Then do you want to test it by yourself?" said Itachi with a glint on his eyes as he furrowed his brow.

"T..Test?" Mitsuki asked, unsure of what Itachi meant. However, feeling the pressure that he exerted as he approached her, Mitsuki was forced to take a step back, until her back was pressed against the tree that stood on the roadside, close to the bench that she was sitting on previously. However, her halt didn't stop Itachi's advance.

"Take a look at my soul," he said, as if challenging her. Not sure what was going on, yet somehow flustered by Itachi's continuous approach, Mitsuki decided to peek unto Itachi's soul as he asked her to, in an attempt to redirect her focus somewhere else that was not the weird tense atmosphere between them.

Suddenly, Itachi placed his hand against the bark of the tree, pinning Mitsuki between his arm and the solid mass behind her while continuously closing their distance, letting their bodies touch slightly as he kept his eyes on Mitsuki's face, observing Mitsuki's reaction. Feeling the softness against his body, and immersing himself in the familiar gentle scent that the girl emitted, he released his suppressed desire that had been haunting him for a while now, letting it run within him in hope that the girl in front of him would identify it in the same way as the stranger's emotion to prove his point.

Sensing his own blood racing and his heart beat increasing as he let the desire took over his thoughts, Itachi asked her in a calm tone, as if unbothered.

"How is it? Did you see anything?"

Mitsuki vigorously shook her head, slightly flustered with panic and confusion in her eyes. Feeling the increase that he had caused to her heart beat as well, Itachi felt the temptation to tease the girl further as his excitement increased unknowingly to him, silently drawing out his mischievous, playful side that he had long buried. Bringing his head closer to her ear, Itachi whispered,

"But I'm thinking of doing some bad things to you now, you know, probably the same one that the guy was thinking," he teased, resisting temptation to nibble on her ear playfully as he felt an inexplicable excitement when he saw her twitching slightly upon his words. Realising that he had managed to incur some kind of a reaction from Mitsuki, Itachi slowly pulled his body away from her, as he continued to observe her reaction closely while making sure that his own expression stayed unfazed.

Seeing the flustered look on Mitsuki's face, Itachi couldn't help but wonder about what was going on inside of her thought. As the girl remained speechless, it somehow brought out some guilt from within him.

"Did I went too far?" he thought, wondering if what he just did would cause some unwanted change on the relationship between them, ruining it. His heart had started to fill with regret as he saw how Mitsuki was frozen in shock, wondering what exactly had come over him previously to convince himself that it was a good idea to push her so. Awkwardly, he then took Mitsuki's palm into his quickly, handing her the allowance that he had planned to give her, before closing her palm tightly and stepped back.

As he turned his back against her, he muttered to Mitsuki softly with her confused gaze still glued on his back,

"That was lust," he said, before adding, "Remember that fear that you had, and do be more careful around men next time."

As he finished his sentence, Itachi blitzed away, leaving the speechless Mitsuki still frozen as she leaned weakly onto the tree bark behind her.

As he put some distance from the village, Itachi halted his advance atop a tree branch. The memories of the recent happenings popped back up into his head, sending his blood rushing once more. Clutching his face, Itachi took a seat on the tree's branch, his face reddened by embarrassment. The memory of Mitsuki's flustered face in front of him as he pressed his body against her, keep reappearing in his head, along with the sensation that he felt during their contact.

"It's warm… and soft.." the thought resurfaced along with the sensation that he had felt against his chest as their body pressed against each other, to his own embarrassment. As he tried to calm himself down, noticing the weird change in his emotional state and the rush within him, he couldn't help but thought to himself with a complicated expression,

"Something's definitely wrong with my head.."

At least it won't be another week till they meet each other again, else it would definitely be awkward between them, thought Itachi as he jumped off the branch and continued with his travel.

Mitsuki was back in her inn's room, lying on her bed face down. She had long lost her intention to continue on her work search that day.

"W…wh.. WHAT WAS THATT!?" Mitsuki let out a muffled shout into her pillow as she flailed on her bed. She could feel her face burning as she lifted her face up from the pillow, the image of Itachi's face inches away from hers as he held into her gaze keep appearing in her head, sending her heart into frenzy.

Sure, she saw the rose colored spark within his soul as well when he closed the distance between them, but after that.. Honestly, she could no longer concentrate her mind and observe as her heart was driven crazy by their shared touch. Recalling the looks in his eyes during his approach, and the warmth in his breath as he whispered into her ear, Mitsuki's face burned once more. Also, Mitsuki wondered if it was just a misunderstanding, but she could feel Itachi's heart beat hastening as their body touched.

In that moment, Aida's word and action echoed once more in her head.

"Your heart skips a beat when you see him, you want to be around him longer and longer.." Aida answered as Mitsuki listened to her attentively. "You want to touch him, hold his hand, kiss him, and eventually, get married, and…" Aida's face got redder and redder as she continued, eventually stopping her speech as she covered her face in embarrassment once more.

"Is this really it? AAAAH I DON'T KNOWW!" Mitsuki flailed once more as she muffled her scream with the pillow on her face. Suddenly, Mitsuki remembered Oyamatsumi's word in the past.

"Wait a minute.. if I'm not wrong.. Then I might be able to contact Aida-chan!"

With excitement, Mitsuki jumped off from the bed to her room's desk, grabbing her notes and pen with her.

Omake:

From: Mitsuki
To: Aida

Aida-chann! Long-time no see! It's been a few months, hasn't it? A lot has happened during this few months, I don't even know where to start! Actually I wanted to contact you earlier before when I realised my pretty-faced team-mate's familiar could be used to deliver letter, but he just won't let me! Now that I have ways to send you a letter on my own, I will be looking forward to our correspondence!

Hey, Aida-chan.. I'm confused now. You know, about the "like" that we were talking about. Actually, I'm not even sure if this is that feeling, but lately I've been sensing a change within my feelings for that one team-mate. I.. still don't understand about kisses, but to be honest I feel like holding his hands gave me comfort in some way. Not always, but sometimes, I think? And I wouldn't mind doing it once more. Lately I felt more reservation about hugging him as well, in exception of the situation when I had to. I don't know, it just felt like.. different? From hugging you or other people I care about, I mean. It's like sometimes I want to, but I can't.. Does that mean it's not "like"? You said that when I feel that way, I would be yearning for more touch, wouldn't I? Everything is so confusing I don't know what to think! (A)- This is my face as I write this!

Hey Aida-chan, to tell you the truth, today something big happened that made me felt like I just need to ask you something. It's so embarrassing to write, but.. today I was approached by a stranger and when I was about to follow him, that team-mate of mine got mad! He said something about its being dangerous, but I didn't see any ill will or any reason why it would be dangerous for me, after all I'm quite capable of defending myself! But he got even more annoyed, and told me that he will demonstrate it himself and asked if I can see any ill-will from him, then.. suddenly we become really close and he pinned my back unto a tree, and.. "DOKAAN!" I felt as if my heart was going to explode (A)I could feel his heart beat faster too, but then when he finally pulled away, he say it's an emotion called lust? Is it something different from the "like" we talked about? Then how to know which one is which? Is that might be what I'm feeling towards him also? I mean I didn't fit the whole description you gave me (0_0)?

I guess that's all for this time's letter! I feel like it'd be overwhelming for you if I write even more. Do hand-over your reply to my messenger when you're done, she'll be able to find me for sure!

P.s. I really, really miss you, Aida-chan! I hope we can meet again (O)
I still like, like, like you too!

Signed, Mitsuki

Author's note:

:3

Both kids still in denial, heh..

Sorry I took a long time to update this time, I really wanted to add more colored illustration for this chapter (for reasons kek) and then midway I'm down with flu so bad I checked myself for covid twice hahahahah
Anyway, not recovered yet, but hopefully soon. However there might be a slowdown in update for the next few weeks, since I'm uh.. I splurge too much on Itachi merch lately so I'm thinking of accepting one of the commission request that I got to cover for that :x
In the meantime, if you guys are bored can check the AU for this fic that came from the most random discussion with friends ever hehehe, it's under the same account (but less depressing content)!