Mitsuki sighed as she sipped her hot tea. She and Itachi had decided to take a short break on the nearby village after what had happened that afternoon after they left the Howling Wolf Village.

It all started up fine. Considering their current situation, Mitsuki and Itachi had to use unconventional way out of the village in order to avoid the villager's eyes. Therefore, unable to board the ferry, the pair had to pass through the body of water on their own feet. Initially, everything was running smooth. Applying the technique that Mitsuki had tried during her travel with Kina previously, she had gotten into a rhythm where she was able to thread the water with ease, and Itachi also had no complaint about her method.

Until her mind floated away, that is.

In her head, Mitsuki's mind was occupied with her worry about revisiting the shrine. She did manage to climb atop the shrine in her mind's image, but she felt that it she managed to get through it only because of the urgency of the situation. Now that everything had calmed down, Mitsuki was worried that her determination alone won't be enough this time, without a pressing need for her to overcome her fear. Especially, considering that this time, she would have to use her physical body and not just her mental image. But she knew, in order for her to be "complete", she had to eventually face her own fear again, sooner or later, in whatever condition she had to face. As Mitsuki felt her frustration over her own mental weakness, her meticulous rhythm broke down as she accidentally skipped over the steps in her head. When she realized, she had already stepped into the unfrozen water.

"GYAAAH!" Mitsuki shouted as the cold water swallowed her, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"!? Mitsuki!?" Itachi who had run several pace ahead quickly ran back upon hearing her scream. Mitsuki was frantically moving as she panicked, trying to keep herself afloat. Quickly, Itachi reached his hand and pulled her up quickly unto his embrace, and carried her towards the nearest, small piece of land in the middle of the river to let Mitsuki recompose herself. As they reached the small piece of land, Itachi let her go, and Mitsuki grovelled down, shivering.

"S…sorry, I l..let my mind roam a little bit too much…" said Mitsuki, shivering with the coldness of the October water and air stealing up her heat.

Itachi had previously noticed, that when Mitsuki is deep inside her own thoughts, she tend to lose track of her surrounding and put herself up to an awkward situation. Last time, she tripped, and this time, she nearly drowned in the cold water. Somehow, it made Itachi worry about letting her out of his supervision next time.

Mitsuki was soaked from head to toe. With her power, she tried to make the air around her warmer, but it was not possible to dry her clothes swiftly while still having it on her. Even off her, it might still take her a while to do so. After all, drying clothes is not all about temperature alone, and she didn't want to make her clothes boiling hot and steaming. Overwhelmed by the coldness of the wet clothes sticking unto her body, Mitsuki tried to shake the water off her as much as possible while moving her body around to keep her temperature up. She pondered about what she should do, as her other clothes definitely had been soaked as well as her bag fell with her into the water. Not to mention that the white kimono that she got from Reishi and was wearing was the only one that would fit her current size. Suddenly, a hand reached out towards her from her side, offering her the Akatsuki cloak. Surprised, Mitsuki turned her head to face Itachi directly, still shivering.

Even as he was looking away, Itachi could feel Mitsuki's gaze on him.

"Wear this," he said without turning her gaze to face Mitsuki for some reason, as if avoiding looking at her.

Mitsuki tilted her head in confusion. "But it would get wet.. is it ok?"

Itachi nodded, still keeping his gaze away.

"Wouldn't you be cold tho? That's not good for your health, you had just recovered after all" Mitsuki asked once more.

Thinking that it would be faster if he explained properly, Itachi decided to tell Mitsuki in a more direct manner. ".. Look down," he said, hinting at her. As Mitsuki looked down, she noticed that her white kimono had become semi-transparent as the wet, white clothes, stuck onto her body. Mitsuki's face turned red with embarrassment as she quickly took the robe out of Itachi's hand without a word and wore it on top of her wet kimono.

".. Do you think you can cross some more?" Itachi asked, still keeping his gaze away for some reason even as Mitsuki had already covered her body up with the cloak.

"I.. think not.. I'm shivering now, I'm afraid I won't be able to move properly," said Mitsuki guiltily, still embarrassed over the turn of event.

"I'll carry you then," said Itachi, as he slowly turned, still avoiding Mitsuki's eye.

"W..WAIT.. not in the front please!" Mitsuki said as she quickly signalled Itachi while she's lowering her gaze to the ground. She felt so embarrassed, she felt like she wouldn't be able to look at Itachi in the face for a while as her face burned red.

Noticing the redness that had reached Mitsuki's ear, Itachi understood her concern. Somehow, her embarrassed reaction, paired with what he had accidentally seen infected him with another blush of his own. Before the awkwardness swallowed them even more, Itachi turned his body and lowered his knee.

"Then, climb unto my back," he said, to Mitsuki's approval. As Mitsuki smiled awkwardly, her face still burning red, she said,

"Sorry.. and thank you." Silently Mitsuki climbed unto Itachi's back and put her hands around Itachi's neck. In response, Itachi brought Mitsuki's leg around his waist and gripped it tightly as he lifted her off the ground, causing Mitsuki to yelp. At the same time, Itachi paused his movement as he felt the softness that pressed firmly unto his back, before quickly resuming his movement awkwardly.

"Are you ok? I heard you yelped," Itachi asked, covering his own embarrassment.

"I.. I'm fine, just surprised that is," Mitsuki replied as her face reddened. She felt a burning sensation at the place where Itachi had gripped her thigh. Not only that, the position she were in brought her body unbelievably close to him as it wrapped around him, and she could smell a faint, pleasant masculine smell from Itachi as she clutched tightly around him.. Mitsuki could feel her heart race and her face burning. So much for her effort of stopping herself from giving Itachi a hug on the previous night, she thought.

Bonus Mini comic of previous scene on the fanfic's X ance_moondemon

Such gentleman, hehehehehehe

Mitsuki felt a bit lightheaded as she took another sip of her hot tea and recalled the previous event. She could still feel her face burning slightly. Somehow, what Aida told her last time came back to her.

"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.

Mitsuki clutched her head in frustration. "Is this it!?" she thought. It was true that sometimes her heart skipped a beat whenever she observed Itachi or thought about him. As for marriage and kisses, Mitsuki couldn't put her hand on it yet. However, thinking of holding Itachi's hand gave her a warm, safe feeling, and she couldn't help but think,

"I guess it's not bad," she muttered softly.

"What's not bad?" A familiar voice came not far from behind her, causing her to jolt as she yelped.

"UGYAAA!" Mitsuki's yelp came out far from elegance, surprising Itachi as she loudly shouted in surprise. Quickly, Mitsuki looked back and found Itachi's surprised face behind her, carrying two plates of Japanese style dessert, her face still reddened with embarrassment.

"I.. Itachi-kun! You surprised me!" said Mitsuki, stuttering.

".. You seem to be lost in thought a lot today," said Itachi as he took a seat beside Mitsuki and put the plates between them.

"Haha.. hahhh," Mitsuki laughed awkwardly as a response to Itachi's assessment. Seeing her awkward response, Itachi asked in concern.

"Something on your mind?" he asked.

"A LOT!" Mitsuki shouted in her brain loudly as she tried her best to keep her expression in check, reducing it into a complicated frown as she narrowed her eyes in frustration. To avoid suspicion, Mitsuki tried to pick one out of the many concerns she had in mind, something that would be easier for her to share. Sighing, she let her voice out.

"It's just that.. I'm still nervous I guess.. Amaterasu-sama said that restoring my memory won't be a pleasant process because our memories is stored in our whole being or something like that.." said Mitsuki. As Itachi pondered about the meaning of Amaterasu's word, Mitsuki continued,

"Also, she said her brother, Oyamatsumi-sama will be waiting there on Amaterasu's shrine nearby to pass me his part of blessing on his own because he cared about me. But, to be honest, I don't remember a thing about him. Wouldn't that be awkward?" said Mitsuki with an embarrassed smile on her face.

"Oyamatsumi.. the Mountain God?" asked Itachi.

"? You know him?" surprised, Mitsuki asked.

"Just a little bit of what was written in the history's religious script," Itachi answered. "God of Mountain, Sea, and War, the older brother of Amaterasu. There's not really much information about him."

"I see," Mitsuki sighed in disappointment. She felt like if even Itachi didn't know much about this figure, she could only try and depend on her memory. "Hopefully, by the time I meet him, I would have recovered some memories about him," thought Mitsuki.

"Well, there's no rush. This place is not that far from our meeting place with Kisame, and there's still quite a bit of time left before our rendezvous," said Itachi in hope that his words will take some pressure off Mitsuki.

"Un, OK.." Mitsuki nodded as she heard Itachi's word. Indeed she felt like she needed more time to prepare herself. "I guess we stay here for a while then?" To her word, Itachi nodded.

"Hmm then first thing first, I'd like to buy myself new clothes," Mitsuki said with a soft voice, slightly embarrassed over what had previously happened. Without saying a word, Itachi decided to focus on the dessert that he had bought instead.

"E..expensive…" Mitsuki mumbled as the clothing clerk gave her the total of her purchase. Mitsuki had selected herself a set choice of kimono, training clothes, footwear, as well as some ribbon to tie her hair with to complete the look. She wondered if her choice over the kimono was why the price had bloated.

Previously, after considering which kimono to pick, Mitsuki found one that had similar color scheme with the kimono that Itachi had gifted her earlier. Even if she hadn't shown it much, she was quite feminine at heart, and a sentimental one at that. By choosing something with similar color scheme and pattern, Mitsuki intended to continuously remind herself of the beginning of her journey with Itachi and Kisame. Though this time, she had chosen a long one instead of short one. The reason was..

"M.. My thighs," Mitsuki stared at her legs in the changing room mirror with horror. Contrary to her previous figure, her leg was no longer slender like how it was before she joined Itachi and Kisame. Indeed, she had noticed herself gaining some weight even before her transformation, but somehow the change had become even more pronounced after her transformation. Wondering why would that be the case, Mitsuki let out a big sigh as she tried to accept the situation she were in.

Pinching her own plump thighs, Mitsuki frowned. She felt like she had no more confidence in wearing another short kimono like her previous one, however, a long one would hinder her movement more. After a minute consideration, Mitsuki decided to go with inner and outer set kimono, where she could take off the thin outside layer to reveal the training clothes underneath, just like how Itachi wore his ninja suit and Akatsuki robe together.

"As for the design… As long as it hides my inner thigh and my hair hiding my butt, it should be fine, right?" she pondered. Somehow, Mitsuki recalled the girl that Itachi had picked to lure Jiraiya away, the slender, elegant big sister with curves at the right places. Annoyed, Mitsuki looked towards her reflection in the mirror, as if trying to find her own redeeming quality.

"At least my chest had grown too," Mitsuki thought as she cusped her breasts with her palms, measuring it. Realising the source of her own thoughts, Mitsuki slapped her own cheeks with her palm, as if waking herself up from her ridiculous thoughts.

"What am I even thinking, ugh…" Mitsuki thought in embarrassment as she quickly gathered the clothes that she had finished picking from the changing room's floor.

"What's wrong? Do you have enough?" suddenly Itachi's voice came from behind her once more, closer than Mitsuki could have predicted. She was not sure if it was just her imagination, but somehow it seemed like the average physical distance kept between Itachi and her had shrunken compared to before. Wondering since when did the change happened, Mitsuki frowned, hiding her embarrassment.

"Er, I should have just enough, I think…" said Mitsuki awkwardly. She really felt the need of getting another work soon, else her hard earned money will all be gone very soon.

"Then, let me handle this for now, you can return it to me next time," said Itachi as he stepped forward towards the counter.

"Eh, will that be okay?" Mitsuki asked with worry in her voice.

"It's fine. The payment of the last mission had been sent over anyway," said Itachi. It was the payment of the mission where he had met with Mitsuki previously. Somehow it felt right for him to spend some of it for the girl's sake, as he somehow had felt indebted to her lately. To be honest, he wouldn't mind if Mitsuki couldn't return him the money.

"Um, then let me also pick some clothes for you and pay it by myself," said Mitsuki as she turned around to take a look at male's section.

"!? You don't need to!" Itachi quickly tried to interrupt her as he didn't feel the need for her to go to such extent to thank him. However, to his response, Mitsuki smiled and said, "I've been wanting to get some clothes for you and Kisame anyway. Eye for eye, clothes for clothes?" she joked. Indeed, she had been having a personal vendetta against the Akatsuki robe that always stick up like a sore thumb without any benefit once Itachi and Kisame were off mission. Mitsuki believed with a bit of make-up and hair styling, she could hide Itachi's and Kisame's feature well enough to evade common visual detection.

"Well.. Itachi-kun's at least," Mitsuki narrowed her eye as she remembered Kisame's more obvious, unique features. Sighing upon her realization, Mitsuki decided to go ahead anyway, roughly measuring what would be Itachi's and Kisame's size from her memory.

"Seriously, why?" Itachi asked awkwardly as he tried the clothes that Mitsuki had forcefully picked for him. To his question, Mitsuki answered from behind the changing room's door, loud enough for Itachi to hear, soft enough to avoid the shop owner from overhearing.

"After all, even though Kisame told me that Akatsuki's robe provide some kind of diplomacy protection during Akatsuki's mercenary mission, when you two are not on mission, it's nothing more than an eye-catching piece of clothes, right? Then, rather than wearing that, I feel like simple disguise that would allow you two to blend with civilians will be a better cover," said Mitsuki.

Suddenly, Itachi opened the changing room door, as if showing Mitsuki how the clothes looked on him. Upon laying her eyes on him, Mitsuki's eyes practically sparkled, causing Itachi to blush slightly upon her reaction.

"It fits you!" she exclaimed, "I think by slightly changing your hairstyle and a little bit of make-up work, your disguise would be perfect!"

"Actually for that we can use Henge no Jutsu, there's no need for physical disguise," Itachi retorted.

"Tch, tch, you don't get it don't you?" Mitsuki complained as she narrowed her eyes, as if judging Itachi for his lack of consideration. "Didn't you say Jutsu leave traces of chakra, and that good shinobis are able to look through some jutsu or detect chakra usage? Don't you think doing things the normal way would blindside them more instead, as they are so used to handling shinobi techniques and detecting chakra?" Mitsuki added playfully.

".. You have a point," Itachi said. Not sure how else he could retort, Itachi decided to change his approach instead.

"Then I'll pay for these as well," he said. To that offer, Mitsuki frowned.

"I told you right, this is a gift from me to you and Kisame," she responded with her hands on her hips, as if insisting, "Besides, male clothes had always been cheaper than female's anyway!" she added. As he noticed that Mitsuki seemed like she would insist anyway, Itachi sighed and surrendered.

After changing into her new sets of clothes and paid for Itachi's and Kisame's "gift", Mitsuki left the store with satisfaction in her eyes. She felt that her new kimono suit her just perfectly, and the ribbon that she had bought slightly gave her the impression of wearing her Miko Kanzashi, without it being too eye-catching. Silently, Mitsuki wondered about Itachi's opinion on her new look, however somehow she felt too embarrassed to ask. It was weird for her, considering how she had asked about her appearance nonchalantly countless times before. Wondering if it was also because of the shift in her feeling, Mitsuki let a complicated smile slipped unto her face. Surprisingly, Itachi commented.

"Why did you choose a long kimono?" Itachi asked. Hearing his comment, Mitsuki felt a slight disappointment towards his comment, as she knew the concern behind his question was due to practicality alone.

"Of all things! He commented on that!," she thought, before chuckling to herself as she thought, "Well, it's just like Itachi-kun, after all. Always worries about the practicality of things."

"Ah, this is not for when we need to traverse, I'll be wearing my training clothes for that, don't worry," Mitsuki answered playfully, "Or.. don't tell me, do you like shorter kimono better?" she asked teasingly. Caught off-guard by Mitsuki's retort, Itachi looked away from Mitsuki's mischievous face, ignoring her remark.

"What are you saying?" said Itachi with slight vexation born from awkwardness. Hearing Itachi's dry response, Mitsuki couldn't help but laughed.

Omake:

Itachi was not sure what had gotten into him. He had been tossing and turning for a while now, unable to sleep. Slightly frowning, he turned his head towards his right. On the other side of the room, Mitsuki was sleeping peacefully, without a worry. Somehow, this time, she had turned her body facing him, her kimono slightly loosened up from her constant movement in her sleep, revealing her collarbone underneath, yet her face was as peaceful as it could be. Itachi could feel himself getting flustered as warmth crept up from his stomach. Quickly, he turned his body away, his back facing Mitsuki once more.

Itachi couldn't help but wondered what had changed. After all, they've gotten used to each other's presence for a while now, and sometimes Mitsuki slept even closer to him as she placed herself between Itachi and Kisame. Was it the fact that Kisame was not there? But they had been on their own for a while now. Was it because the room was way smaller than the back shrine, or the outdoors? Probably. Somehow the smaller space had also made him more conscious about her presence. Suddenly, Itachi remembered the event that transpired that morning. His accidental glimpse of her figure under the slightly transparent, wet kimono, as well as the sensation of her body on his back, resurfaced in his mind, causing his blood to rush and his heartbeat quickened. Quickly, Itachi sat up on his futon, clutching his slightly reddened face as he tried his best not to take another glance at Mitsuki's peacefully sleeping figure.

Somehow, without understanding why, Itachi felt slightly pissed at how defenceless Mitsuki seemed to be, even realising that maybe it was because Mitsuki hadn't understand anything about such things yet. "I'll walk around and cool myself down," thought Itachi as he slowly rise up from his futon and left the room. Silently, he considered that it might be time for him to tell Mitsuki to get her own room next time.

New Cover Art for part 2 on ance_moondemon!

With Mitsuki's adult form, encompassing the theme and the relationship development on this part, with Mitsuki as active support as her feelings become clearer and Itachi being troubled (komaru? how to translate this properly to english urghhhh?) by the development between them as he deny his own change of feeling as well!

Also yes, that's the kimono Mitsuki bought Itachi, pattern and color inspired by Naruto Mobile's Itachi summer version. Heheh, subtly chosing blue, are you trying to dye him in your own color, Mitsuki, you sly girl :)

Author's note:

( ͡ ͜ʖ ͡) heh

This chapter is quite lighthearted, despite the title, hehehe

It's time to slowly develop on the romance department, I guess :D

Extra notes:

(*) Actually I bet you guys still all remember this, but for the sake of those who read translations which somehow translate jutsu's name to other languages, it's referring to the transformation jutsu xD