((Chapter 6 - Mission (Part 3)))
She had to get away. She had to escape from her embarrassment and shame. She couldn’t face them, especially Yugao, Emi, Kakashi, and Itachi. (Damn it!)
She squealed when someone bolted out of the brush beside her, two hands catching her by either arm and holding her against a tree. She tried to hide her face, but she couldn’t escape those rich, black eyes.
“You’re not running from me, are you?” Itachi spoke soft and kind.
Ayumi gasped, looking right into his face. Involuntarily, she began to cry.
“What’s the matter?” He loosened his grip on her arms, bringing one hand up to cup her cheek. “Why are you crying?”
“I hurt you…” she sobbed. “I embarrassed myself; I froze!” She shook her head, sobbing. “I’m so sorry!”
Itachi hushed her, pulling her into his arms as she cried. He held her as she clung to him, trembling from the battle that had just been waged.
“I’m sorry I hurt you,” she whimpered, sniffling.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”
“But your arm…” She pulled away from his embrace, lifting his cloak’s sleeve away from the wound on his arm. It was a long, deep gash, and blood was already on his hand. Ayumi focused her orange chakra around her right hand, and Itachi was still as she healed the wound.
When the faint scar disappeared from his arm, he flexed his hand. It was as if nothing had happened. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I wanted to though. I don’t like seeing you hurt…” she remembered her dream, “especially after that dream I had last night.”
He looked at her, taking her hands in his. “What did you dream?”
“It’s…hard to explain. It started off with you, Deidara, and Kisame walking away from a battleground. At first, nothing seemed amiss, but you suddenly…collapsed, blood pouring down your arm! Before you passed out, you mentioned some demon, the Shukaku, and how you underestimated it.” She stared at him. “Do you understand any of it?”
He looked away from her, obviously thinking it through. He opened his mouth several times to speak, but he faltered. Ayumi waited patiently, hoping that his answer would be contrary to her dream.
He finally replied, but he didn’t look directly into her eyes. “I don’t really know what you’re talking about, as far as that dream goes, but I assure you, if I do encounter this Shukaku, I will be careful. I promise.”
That was good enough for her. “Okay. Other than that, how have you been?”
They started to walk through the forest, hand in hand. “My Leader plans on keeping me busy the next couple of months, and I’ve missed you. Silly as it is, these past two days have been…uneventful, quiet…lonely.”
She blushed, giggling. “I’m sorry. I wish there was some way we could stay near to each other! At least we have friends we can talk to.”
He looked at her, surprised.
“I’ve made a few friends in Konoha, including Kakashi and Sasuke Uchiha” – she glared at him, remembering the fact he’d never told her about his brother – “Sakura, Iruka, and a few others. We have a lot of fun, just talking and running around everywhere!”
Itachi scoffed, smiling. “To think you and Kakashi are friends. That is very amusing.”
“I know!” She giggled. “You should’ve stayed a while longer; Kakashi and I didn’t have a nice introduction.”
He stopped, looking at her. “Excuse me?”
Ayumi giggled. “Yeah…I was in a bad mood, Naruto contributed to it, and Kakashi and I…well, we sort of…fought.”
Itachi nodded, snickering softly. “I take it you won?”
“Of course! I threw him into a brick wall!”
For once, she got Itachi to laugh. It was the first time he’d really shown how amused he was. “You are so…”
“So what?” She moved closer to him, intertwining her fingers with his.
“So…” He watched her. “So remarkable.”
“Remarkable?” She loved teasing him, making him struggle with words. It was the one way she could overwhelm him.
He chuckled. “Wonderful?”
She giggled, standing only a few inches away from him. “Kakashi and Emi are dating, now.”
His smile faded instantly. He walked away from her, staring at the ground. “So she’s fine?” He paused. “Is she still…angry?”
Ayumi sighed. She’d ruined the moment; Itachi was still upset by what he had done those weeks before…when he’d annihilated what was left of the cousins’ family… “I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have mentioned her…” she stepped up to him.
He was silent.
“She can’t stop thinking about it, but I don’t think she’s…angry anymore.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why? We’ve been over this, Itachi!”
He looked at her, shaking his head. “I slaughtered what family you had! How can you keep forgiving me?”
She looked at him. “Because I know you. You were just obeying orders…”
He continued to watch her, gaze dark with shame.
“And I love you. I can’t help it.”
The next thing Ayumi knew, they had leaned into each other, lips meeting. Itachi turned towards her, putting his hands against her back as she put her arms behind his neck.
Itachi broke the kiss, looking over his shoulder when Deidara called from the distance. He sighed.
“Please, don’t go,” Ayumi pleaded, clinging to him.
“I have to,” Itachi turned back to her. “I can’t go back to the Leaf Village.”
Ayumi felt the tears coming. “If you weren’t a rogue…things would be so much better!”
He held her closer. “If I weren’t a rogue, I would have never met you.”
He kissed her one last time, then pulled away from her. He looked over his shoulder one last time before he darted, disappearing into the leaves.
Ayumi was alone again.
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