"Itachi-kun, I'm back! Did I made you wait for long? Sorry I kept getting dragged here and there!" Mitsuki said in a rush as she approached Itachi who were waiting for her from the shadow. It took a few attempt, but Mitsuki had finally managed to slip out of the crowd by dismantling her divine form. With a lot of her eye-catching features altered, blending into the crowd was much easier for her. Nevertheless, now that she was finally out of the spotlight and free, she really looked forward to update Itachi about everything that had happened. However, despite Mitsuki's excitement, Itachi's response to her enquiry was just a simple, light shake of the head, accompanied with a faint, sad smile on his lips.

Mitsuki noticed that something was wrong almost immediately. After all, his reaction aside, Itachi's soul was letting off sad, blue sparks. Despite how Itachi had tried to mask his expression, something about her gaze felt different. To Mitsuki, it felt oddly cold, and distant, something that he hadn't seen Itachi wear in front of her for a long time now.

"Itachi-kun?" she asked with worry, prompting Itachi to meet her gaze in response. "Is something wrong? Did something happen?"

Hearing the concern in her voice, Itachi smiled apologetically as Mitsuki repositioned herself to meet Itachi's gaze. Sometimes, he forgot how perceptive the girl was, and how he could never hide his soul from her. His smile was genuine and warm, yet somehow, his eyes were still filled with reserve and loneliness.

"Nothing. All is fine," said Itachi calmly without turning his gaze away, attempting to reassure Mitsuki that it was nothing worth her attention. Despite the gentleness in his voice however, Mitsuki still felt like something was off.

"Really? You promised me you'll be honest to me, you do remember that right?" she said with scrutiny, pushing Itachi lightly with her doubtful questioning. Hearing her, Itachi let out a soft chuckle. Despite her approach, he felt like there was no way that he could tell her about what he was thinking. He knew that by doing so, he would end up making Mitsuki feel bad.. It would be as if he was making everything to be about him, and he knew that she would again go the extra miles to convince him to feel otherwise.. and he didn't want that. After all, he knew that the girl was just trying her best regarding her duty and responsibility as well, and if she knew that he had such worry, she would be concerned, and it would add on to what had already weighs her. Therefore, no matter what, Itachi decided to keep this feeling of his a secret, even if it would mean lying to the girl despite his promise.

"What were you doing just now?" asked the man in return with a wry smile, further avoiding Mitsuki's enquiry. Seeing how Itachi went as far as faking a smile for her, and knowing Itachi's personality and his avoidant habit, Mitsuki sighed and let Itachi kept his silence, believing that he would tell her once he was ready, as he usually would.. as he had promised her, and she want to hold unto that promise no matter what.

Giving up on her enquiry, Mitsuki then went on and babbled to Itachi about what had happened during Itachi's absence. She blabbered about the mechanism's success, the farmers rise in enthusiasm, the meeting with the village council, her plan on how to help the farming section and the village as a whole.. It was a very long story, yet Itachi continued to listen to the girl's speech attentively, a smile creeping up on his lips. Mitsuki's cheerfulness and excitement and was somewhat infectious, enveloping Itachi with warmth.. but somehow, deep inside, the loneliness remained. It was as if there was an unseen wall between them, a wall of his own making, separating them as his dreadful realization on their existence's belonging continued to gnaw on him.

Even so, hearing Mitsuki's rambling, something came to Itachi's mind as he began to notice something missing from Mitsuki's method.. Something that he couldn't believe that the girl would miss..

"Mitsuki," Itachi called out apologetically, slightly unsure if he should bring his observation out in worry that he might just be overthinking things, "You do remember, that electricity exists, don't you?"

There was a long pause.

Immediately upon hearing Itachi's word, Mitsuki's speech halted and her eye widened. Watching how the girl froze with her mouth agape, Itachi was undeniably amused.

"You do know you can use them to help move the mechanism, right?" added Itachi, holding back the temptation to chuckle at the girl's reaction.

Mitsuki could feel her leg crumbling under her as she fell to the ground in a complicated mixture of exhaustion and embarrassment. Slamming the ground with softly with her fist, the girl mumbled in distress, reprimanding herself for her stupidity.

She totally forgot, that unlike centuries ago, human had gone out of their way and invented something as convenient as electricity.

Even so, she indeed knew nothing about its application and workability. How to set one up, how to use it to move things.. She was, as she herself would put it, behind her own time. Realizing her major mistake, Mitsuki looked at Itachi for help.

"Itachi-kuuuuun," whined the miko without reservation. "Teach mee!" she added pleadingly. Trying his best not to laugh at the girl, Itachi nodded with a complicated smile.

Mitsuki was back in her divine form, and by her request, Itachi was back in the disguise as well, following right behind. Initially Mitsuki had only asked for Itachi to accompany her shopping for the needed components while teaching her the basic, but midway during their tool shopping trip, Mitsuki had decided that it was too much trouble having Itachi teach her everything only for her to convey it as it was to the villagers. Worse would be for her, if they asked her complicated questions.. It was more than likely for her to be able to answer it as accurately as needed, realizing how little her knowledge was about the miraculous invention. Therefore, she decided to come up with a new plan, instead..

"Wait, Mitsuki!" protested Itachi as Mitsuki dragged him along while being in her divine form, putting a lot of spotlight on the both of them as they traversed through the crowd. Despite his verbal protest, Itachi was not actually putting any real effort on resisting Mitsuki's pull. After all, if he was serious, there was no way for the girl to be able to drag him like such.

"Psst, call me Inaba in this form," said the girl with a playful grin on her face. Not a moment later, she proceeded on calling out loudly to the crowds scattered all around the field.

"Everyone, I brought someone useful!" shouted the girl excitedly. Just like that, immediately, everyone's attention was on her and the "ordinary looking guy" that she dragged with her.

"Miko-sama, you are back!"

"We've wondered where you have gone to!"

"Who? That's not someone from our village, isn't he?"

The crowd responded with excited murmur upon the Miko's reveal.

"Hehe, let me introduce you!" said the Miko confidently with a grin on her face, "this is..!"

The miko paused for a while as realization dawned on her that she had yet gotten a name for Itachi's one of many disguise. Using his real name was a no go, so.. she quickly decided to pick a word, a nickname, instead.

"Sensei!" she continued abruptly, "Call him sensei!" added the girl immediately.

The crowd grew silent for a few second, before Satoru burst out into laughter.

"Missy! Don't tell me you forgot your friend's name?" he asked without reservation, noticing the small pause the girl had between her words.

Mitsuki twitched a little. Of course it would seem so, after all why would she tell them his "title" and "role" instead of his name? Not knowing how to rebuke the accusation, Mitsuki stuttered awkwardly. However, Itachi was quick to save her.

"I'm sorry," said Itachi politely as Mitsuki grew silent. "I asked her not to reveal my name. Just consider me a fellow wanderer," he said, glancing towards Mitsuki's immediately gleaming, grateful eye, returning it with a smile of his own.

Hearing the wanderer's statement, the crowd quickly accepted the explanation and nodded while muttering among themselves light-heartedly. After all, Satoru was only pointing that out to poke fun of the surprisingly tease-able girl.

"Well, if he say so," replied one of the villager with a chuckle.

"He's Miko-sama's friend, so he must be trustworthy, right?" added another jokingly.

"Let me get this clear," whispered Itachi to the overly-excited looking Mitsuki as soon as they were no longer the centre of the attention. "I only knew things by theory," he clarified, "I've never had the chance to actually put things into practice," said Itachi, heavy with guilt, knowing the expectation everyone had for him. He felt like he had deceived both Mitsuki and the villagers by acting as if he was truly an expert, even though he didn't have any practical knowledge. Between his shinobi training, his study, and his mission, he still did try to learn as much as he could about how the world works due to his curiosity, but.. Despite his interest, to actually dabble in them and put things into practice was, to put into word, a luxury that he couldn't afford.

However, Mitsuki didn't seem to mind what Itachi said, one bit.

"Then all the better right? You can take this chance to actually try your theories out for once," said Mitsuki without any hint of doubt or hesitation. Her attention was focused on Itachi's hand which was dabbling with a pile of battery powered toy, dismantling them for parts that he can use. According to Itachi, he could repurpose them into a simple motor for automation. With assistance of the village's few engineer and electrician that Mitsuki had gone to fetch along the way and convince with her charm, Itachi was soon busied with helping the system's construction.

Seeing how Itachi drowned himself in the effort, Mitsuki was glad that she had insisted, and succeeded in pushing Itachi to be directly involved with her work. Even if he had started up awkward and distant, as soon as he began sharing his knowledge, experimenting, and discussing the application with the villagers, unconsciously he seemed to had brought his own wall down, even if only by a notch. It was almost if he was truly having fun doing what he did, learning and applicating his knowledge, and there were nothing that could please Mitsuki more than that. After all, the guy in front of her had been through so much during his life. He was forced to carry a lot of responsibility by himself in such a young age, having to hide his true self for his duty. At least for the moment, ironically, even if he was under physical disguise, what was shown beneath the fake exterior was, unquestionably, Itachi's true self. It was the curious, gentle spirit that truly cared for everyone beyond the boundary of shinobi world.

"If only more people could see this side of him," Mitsuki thought to herself with both feeling of delight and longing.

Like Kisame had said, the world was.. IS indeed unfair. It hadn't been fair to a lot of people that Mitsuki knew, especially to Itachi who she felt was too young for the amount of burden he had to carry. There should have been no reason for him to be so alone and misunderstood, to be burdened with the weight of his clan and the world. As a young man, he should have been allowed to experience the other, gentler side of the world more, not being used as a political tool, as executioner. Drowning in her own thoughts, Mitsuki smiled as she pictured a different Itachi, he who was born not as shinobi, not as an Uchiha, but as an ordinary man, wondering what he would, could have become. However, Mitsuki couldn't help but wonder that… if that truly was the case, the Itachi who she had known and loved then, might not have existed. After all, precisely because of his hardship, and how he had chosen to face everything with the best of his capability no matter how painful it was for him, he had become "the" Uchiha Itachi, the man whom she had come to love.

Many times had she wondered, how could no one saw how beautiful of a soul this man has? How could anyone have allowed him to be so alone? How could the elders of his village see him and have the heart to manipulate him to do their bidding, such horrible things… this boy of ingenuity and bright future? How could his parents see him every day, raised him, watch him struggle, yet still had a heart to put such a heavy burden of their clan's fate on him? Itachi had never deserved all that, Mitsuki thought. He deserved many more things, but not the cruel fate that he had been forced unto. Now, seeing Itachi among the common folks, helping them, Mitsuki's heart warmed upon the sight.

"He deserved all of this," she thought. "To be in the light, to be seen as the wonderful person he is, to receive respect and gratitude.." and it frustrates her somehow, knowing that the "real" Itachi is so much more than what he could show the villager at the moment, yet it would forever be hidden beneath his crafted persona of evil.

Yet, Mitsuki knew that there was nothing much she could do. She couldn't change his past, or even his future, unfortunately, for the better.

Even if she had indeed extended his life, it was not going to be for long. Not only that, she was made aware that due to the extension, she would end up messing with his Karma making Itachi's suffering worse than it was supposed to be if he were to pass that day. How she wish that things could have been different, and that she could do more for his sake.. How she wish she could have met him earlier, helped him more, give him all the happiness and love he deserved, give him more time to show the world what a wonderful man he was, protect him.. The thought made her melancholic, and she felt helpless thinking of what she couldn't do for him despite being a "God". It was such a frustrating thing. Her heart was brimming with so many different feelings that she didn't know how to express, or define, even. All she knew was that she wanted to shower Itachi with love and affection that he deserved, support that he needed.. As much as she could.. So, even if the whole world were not able to see Itachi as the person he truly was, forever oblivious about his sacrifice, unaware of his truth, she alone would witness everything that he had been through, remember them, appreciate them, and thank him for it, thousand-folds, million-folds.. for as long as she lived, for eternity. What the world has taken from him, she wanted to give it to him to the best of her capability. Even if it was just for a little bit, for what little time he had left, she wanted to give Itachi a chance, a semblance of happiness. And for Mitsuki, that was the most important thing for her in the moment. It was not her duty, not her mission, but.. Itachi's wish, and his happiness. How to make whatever time he has left worthy to make up for what he had lost..

As her thought ran through her head, her gaze lingered on Itachi's disguised form. Adoration clear in her eyes, enough for Itachi to feel the heat of her gaze on him. Catching her gaze with his own, Itachi tilted his head slightly, questioning. In response, Mitsuki grinned widely and waved towards him happily, as if she was having the most fun in her life watching him. Confused, Itachi stood up and walked towards Mitsuki, wondering if she meant to tell him to come to her.

The moment Itachi approached, Mitsuki tilted her head slightly in confusion, smile still decorating her face.

"What is it, Itachi-kun?" whispered Mitsuki the moment Itachi was close enough to hear her.

"? I thought you were calling unto me?" answered Itachi in surprise. Realizing how ambiguous her gesture could be interpreted, indeed, Mitsuki paused for a while before then laughing awkwardly. Before Itachi could ever ask Mitsuki why she was laughing though, one of the field workers approached the duo with glimmer in his eyes, interrupting.

"Miko-sama!" he called out, "Please accept this," he said, handing over a boxed lunch. "My wife made this to show our gratitude for your help yesterday," he added.

Without any reservation, Mitsuki accepted the gift with a smile and simple thanks while Itachi watched her exchange in confusion.

"How is she? I don't see her around today," asked Mitsuki, initiating a small talk with the husband.

"She's fine, her arms all healed, just that she needed to take care of something today," he answered, before quickly bowing and leaving the Miko to her own freedom.

"What was he talking about?" Itachi asked curiously the moment Mitsuki started unboxing her "free lunch".

"Ah no, it's nothing much," said Mitsuki nonchalantly. "There was a small accident yesterday and I just happened to be there to help with the wound."

Casually, Mitsuki nudged the lunch box towards Itachi, communicating her intention to share it with him. Seeing how Itachi was hesitant to take what was originally a gift for Mitsuki, the girl forced a chopstick unto Itachi's hand, signalling for him to take it.

"What kind of wound is it?" asked the young man awkwardly as he gave in to Mitsuki's insistence and took a piece of the box's tamagoyaki out for himself.

"Just some minor laceration, I just stitched it and sped up the wound healing process," answered Mitsuki calmly, to Itachi's surprise.

"You can do that?" asked Itachi with a mild surprise. After all, as far as he knew, the enhanced regeneration that she have only worked on herself.

Hearing the surprise in Itachi's voice, Mitsuki had just realised that she never really told him the detail of what she had done for Kirika's wound. Grinning proudly, Mitsuki informed Itachi about her newest skill set.

"Mmhmm, I've managed to figure out a way to do so by learning more about human body and medical practices, so now I can heal minor physical wound," she said excitedly, before quickly adding, "Ah, but I need to use the person's own energy for the process to avoid side effects, so.."

Even so, Itachi felt that for her to be able to do so was quite an accomplishment on its own. This time, he didn't even participate in giving her input, so it seemed to him that Mitsuki had figured out the method how on her own just by studying alone. With that in his thought, Itachi gave Mitsuki an approving smile that she was not sure of how to interpret. Even so, seeing Itachi's smile was enough to make Mitsuki happy, more than anything else.

"Thank goodness," she muttered softly, her gaze still locked on Itachi's face who was still chewing the tamagoyaki slowly. For a while, the two basked in each other's presence in silence while they shared the meal, if Itachi taking some more bite due to Mitsuki's insistence can be counted as sharing a meal. By the time the bento box was emptied, despite her stomach not feeling full yet, Mitsuki's heart was satisfied. This time, noticing her smile on him once more, Itachi went ahead asked,

"Why?"

"Why what?" Mitsuki replied with another question.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?"

Hearing Mitsuki's question, Mitsuki chuckled softly before deciding to tease Itachi about it.

"Why not? Can't I?" answered the priestess with a mischievous grin unfitting of her divine form.

Her answer turned Itachi speechless. Seeing as how Itachi just blinked in confusion without saying another word, Mitsuki giggled victoriously.

"Just kidding, Itachi-kun," she added apologetically, yet somehow she still looked too elated for anyone to take her apology seriously. "It's just, I'm happy for you.."

Mitsuki's word didn't make any sense for Itachi.

"Happy for me? Why?" asked the young man, surprised.

"You looked right in your element," answered the priestess briefly, heightening Itachi's confusion. After all, didn't he just told her that he was barely knowledgeable about what he was supposed to help the villagers with? The confusion was so clear in his face, he didn't have to ask for more explanation before Mitsuki smiled wryly at him and continued.

"I mean.. you, among the people, helping them. You looked right where you belong."

Itachi couldn't be more surprised. After all, it was only not too long ago when he felt that exact same way regarding Mitsuki, and how he ironically felt lonely because of it. Because he thought, they both belonged to different side of the world, a fact that remained despite their closeness. Itachi wanted to refute Mitsuki's remark, but..

"You are wrong," said Itachi, sadness clear in his eye, the same sadness that Mitsuki saw within him earlier that day. "I'm a criminal," he added, dejectedly, "and even before that, I had always belonged in the shadow, not in the light."

Itachi remembered what Danzo had told him when he was still very young, that Itachi had a marking of chaos. How he had plenty of darkness within him, how he belonged in the ANBU.. He had eventually come to accept that, and Shisui had also helped made him felt better about the fact. After all, Shisui once told him, that the true shinobi are those who protected people from the darkness, unknown.. yet..

"What are you saying?" Mitsuki smiled wryly as she deflected Itachi's statement without any evident of doubt, surprising Itachi. "Between shinobi work, and what you have been doing today, if you have a choice, which one would you prefer?"

Mitsuki's question surprised Itachi. He had never thought about it. At first, he felt like there was no question. He had been born a shinobi, raised a shinobi, and he was an excellent one at that. But does he.. truly enjoy shinobi work?

Itachi recalled each and every mission he had been through. Hundreds of them, to be exact. Among them where some he enjoyed, some he didn't hate, and some he despised.. Among the one he enjoyed, were the one where he could truly create a positive impact for others. Chasing off beasts away from civilization, body-guarding, or even as simple a mission as recovering some Ninja Cat. But.. the further he goes into shinobi world, the amount of despicable work had only been increasing, more and more.. Assassination, disposal, elimination… Because only an excellent shinobi can trump another shinobi, they say.. Such was what he taught Sasuke long ago, even when talking about the Shinobi police department, but.. Compared to the darkness of ANBU, the police department was indeed, comparably, the light. Stopping crime.. Protecting peace.. Yet even that wasn't enough for his clan. Comparatively, Itachi had never liked hurting others unnecessarily, yet.. being in the ANBU at one point he was forced to accept that.. Killing was ok, hurting others was ok.. as long as it brought upon a greater good, for the village, for his kin. At the finale of it, he had even killed his own parents, and his whole clan.. for the greater good.. for peace.. and hence the realization..

No, he had not really enjoyed shinobi work..

Itachi's disguised face darkened as the realization hit him. Seeing his expression changed like that, Mitsuki was sorry, but..

"At the very least..," said Mitsuki, calling back Itachi's attention towards her. "Today, you looked like you were truly having fun," added Mitsuki with a bright affectionate smile.

"I did?" he blurted in surprise, innocently, unbelieving. Finding Itachi's reaction to be funny, Mitsuki chuckled and nodded with all sincerity.

"You did look awkward at first, but I can tell that you really enjoyed the discussion and the process itself."

Mitsuki wanted to tell Itachi that the shadow that lingered over his expression in the morning had also been wiped as a result, but she worried that telling him so would just pull him back into whatever brought his sadness.

On the other hand, Itachi couldn't believe his ear. It was the first time someone ever said that he enjoyed a "discussion". Usually, people had always thought of him as closed off and cold, silent.. Never would he have imagined that anyone would tell him that he looked happy, among the people, talking.. discussing.. Even so, looking at how genuine Mitsuki's smile was, once more, Itachi was forced to consider the possibility, that..

He indeed had been enjoying it.. His discussion of that day.. and all his discussion so far with Mitsuki, all these times they were travelling together.

Somehow, exchanging knowledge on that day, or talking with Mitsuki didn't seem pointless, and therefore, not a waste of time, or energy, something that made him dread talking, back in the past. Thinking about those times made him recall the memory of his childhood. About his past self, about his friends.. teammates… acquaintance in his childhood. About what he felt towards them and his conversations with them.. And then, as he lifted his gaze once more, Itachi noticed the confusion on Mitsuki's face. Itachi could understand why, After all, he had indeed suddenly become silent right after Mitsuki had just finished her sentence. Mitsuki wanted to ask why, and she was about to ask.. but suddenly, a voice called out to the girl from across the field.

"Miko-sama, can you help us check on this?" a villager called out loudly with urgency in his tone. In response, Mitsuki stood frantically and rushed across the field to help, signalling towards Itachi apologetically for her sudden leave. Left with his own thoughts, Itachi continued to ponder while remaining seated on the bench, taking the chance to reflect. Had he changed that much? Was this enjoyment new? Or had it always been there, unnoticed?

Recalling his childhood, the closest thing he could identify with a sense of enjoyment was.. sparring with Shisui. Her enjoyment with Mitsuki, however, was different in nature. In her case, it was not sparring, but rather term of discussion, and maybe some experimentation. Sparring with Mitsuki, in the other hand, reminded him more of his play-date with Sasuke, maybe due to the fact that unlike Shisui, it was more likely for her not being able to keep up with him. Remembering his most recent spar with Mitsuki and the panic in her face as he overwhelmed her and locked her movement, Itachi unconsciously scoffed. But still the question remained..

Yet just like how it was with Mitsuki, not long after, a few people from the engineering team approached Itachi, interrupting his private moment. Not knowing on how to call him as he had yet given them his name, hesitantly, one of the guys dared himself to speak up.

"Er.. Wanderer..-san?"

Realizing that the man was indeed talking to him, Itachi greeted him by meeting his gaze.

"Can you tell us what you think about this particular arrangement..?" asked the guy, holding a blueprint in his hand.

Author's note:

Still no illustration this time. Kinda burned out real bad even my convention preparation is not progressing, sorry for slow pace on update also since i can't find the energy to proofread my stuff for a while now. I kinda write this part for the comfort part, I'm not sure if anyone would see it the same way too but... Itachi, even though he is a genius Shinobi, I don't think he particularly loves being Shinobi where he is forced to hurt people or often time take people's life considering how his personality is actually.. I know this might be an unusual take but, I guess as a civilian (?) it was something that Mitsuki could show him by taking him out of the Shinobi mindset.