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"You shouldn't be here Uchiha-san..." She whispered as if there was other people living in her one bedroom apartment. The sharingan user was good bed fellows with silence. He expected of her, and she always delivered, no matter her morals and loyalty to her village; his once village. He made his way over to her couch, one hand sassily lazed over the opening of his cloak. Not much keen on acknowledging her usual protests of him being in the village. His little care taker worried too much, and after months of visiting her, she still didn't seem to realize how the Uchiha were once ruled the ancestors of stubborn behavior. He would wait her stuttering nags out, Uchihas were also patient.
"If I-I get cau-caught dressing the wounds of missing nin from the Akatsuki, I-I will be put under severe p-punishment.."
Punishment. The Hyuugan was scared of Konoha's punishment. And not his own. A part of him wanted to show her what punishment looked like to force her to release the anxiety. But Itachi was a gentle man, despite his reputation and mildly suggestive thoughts.
"Hinata." His voice slid inbetween her own like a ocean wave gently crashing into the shores. The contrast of her soft feminine voice and his depth made the girl realize she had talked a little too long, and her ears found the difference of tone that much more appealing. He knew her pearl eyes would ascend to his own, he liked it that way. He liked having a dash of control in his life, as his life had not been his own since birth. No one looked up at him the way she did.
It wasn't fear. Of his enemies.
It wasn't hatred. Of his brother.
It wasn't expectancy. Of his organization.
It was a look a wife would give her returning husband. At least a part of him liked to immaturely muse and pretend. It was the look that a Lioness would grant her wreckless cub. It was hospitality.
"I would like tea."
She quietly mumbled something about him having no manners but despite that, she made her way to heat the hot water. This was, for the most part, their routine. And Itachi wouldn't change that for the world. He'd undress his robe, relaxing back with attempts to ignore any burning behind his eyes, knowing soon it would be eased up like he overdosed on pain killers. Ironically enough, he got addicted to the relief or perhaps the cause of relief.
He'd activate his blood limit more if his leader enjoyed him taking lazy nights off for the presence of a Hyuuga girl. When he was home, he expected the outside world to turn off. And if the stubborn Uchiha didn't get his way, he'd make it so with genjutsu. He knew Hinata never realized that maybe spending 72 hours together with no interruptions from either their colleagues was a bit off.
It was trust that blinded Hinata. She trusted him, even knowing of his capabilities yet enabling it all. So, despite her nagging nonsense, she enabled him to keep coming back with her trust.
"Tea.."
She silently placed the warm cup into his palm, settling some ointments down as well and began silently working on his resting eyes. Her Byakugan active and studying each vein beneath his eye sockets, observing what was damaged, scorched, or blocked off. Soon he'd feel her warming chakra invest into his eyes, slowly repairing the damage, digits dancing on the edges of his temples controlling the micro-laced chakra while regenerating the cells. Fumes from her ointment numbing all pain.
He would watch her focus, the once soft features turned hard and determined, and he liked that. It was complete silence for ten minutes, he didn't need reassurance of her progress. He could feel it, and have learn the paths her chakra would dance behind his very eyes until his eyesight was fixed momentarily.
"Why do I-I even bother.. you are just going to damage them again."
"Yes." He agreed with no shame, which made the girl scowl. The Uchiha was terminally sick with a disease, but also growing older. The thought alone seemed scary as he did not want to spend his dying days in the presence of S-Class criminals, that was his personal hell. The Hyuuga was the Uchiha's best interest at the moment... preferring to live life in solitude as he grew into a middle-aged sick man. However, his preferences never mattered as even his own little brother expected the older Uchiha to clash into him like an inferno.
But here, those troubles seem to go away around Hinata. He liked not having to be on his guard and where he could just live in the moment and rest.
"Naruto-kun is still determined to bring your brother back to the village.. M-Maybe if Naruto delays an interference to Sasuke, you'll live a while longer."
He couldn't quite decipher if she had relaying the message with a hint of depression or not. The thought didn't offend him but amused him. The little Hyuuga couldn't wait till he was dead.
"Worrying about it serves you no purpose."
She mumbled a weak response, that was possibly her attempt at arguing. Her thumb swirled the outline of the joint on his wrist that protruded. He would just watch, eyelids lazily sitting low on his black orbs. He had never seen a tint of lavender in the cold white Hyuuga bloodline until he met her, probably from basking in the sun a bit too much. Or maybe she was a chosen Hyuuga from an unknown god.
Whatever conspiracy her pearl eyes had behind them, Itachi liked it. Alot.
"You still like the boy."
"What boy?"
"The Kyuubi."
"Naruto-kun?"
"Sure."
"A-Ano! I-I don't like N-Naruto-kun..."
He doubted every word. If he was younger, he perhaps might be able to tune into his possessive Uchiha side. But he couldn't possess her.. because once she was his, someone would rip her from him. Just like everything else he had.
"Lets keep it that way."
"H-He loves Sa-Sakura-chan. Not me." A sad yet genuine smile curled to her lips. She has accepted his feelings towards the pink haired kunoichi, yet there was lack of a single jealous bone in her. She didn't feel jealousy. Not once.
"I can't empathize with not loving you." Smooth, Itachi.
The woman didn't turn tomato red but softened her gaze. Hinata already knew of his unsaid feelings towards her, he showed her. He reminded her of a more relaxed Neji-niisan. Without moving anything other than his hand, he lifted to cup her neck and than to her cheek, almost as a confirmation that for once in her life, her face was not fiery warm. She gripped his own to halt the movement once his hand palmed her face, and slowly nuzzled the larger palm.
"I c-cannot say I love you, Uchiha-san," He didn't flinch or find this heart breaking, he just observed. "But... I-I will be very lo-lonely and upset when you leave for the final time."
"Hinata, you are now my wife." He said officially with his matter-of-fact attitude. This was when her face heated up. "W-What are you talking about?"
"I don't want to die alone, so I have now claimed you as my wife."
"I'm not your wife, Uchiha-sama!"
"You are."
"No!"
"Yes."
"No.."
"Yes."
"No, I am not."
"Yes, you are. You don't like the official title, but that doesn't mean you aren't."
"H-How so?"
"You've fed me, taken care of me, healed me, and this is my home, I can come to." Life was too short to take seriously. He might of have been joking around with her to amuse himself on her flustered reaction. But they both knew he held some truth behind his claims. He viewed her as a wife. His wife.
"We-Well you aren't my H-Husband... so.." Hinata replied, crossing her arms and snubbing her nose up. Now that was just rude, and his eyes narrowed a bit. He shifted his weight forward as thoughts of her finding a new husband irked his heart. His hand twisted her face back gently to face him and his lips instantly found her own.
A kiss was new to both of them. Her micro-expressions melted and her lids fell shut, he followed suit once she had consented to his embrace. His lips tasted of bitter tea, and hers flavored with a sweet cinnamon. Only making the Uchiha that much more hungry, but he would not give into his hunger and slowly released the lock. Eyelids slid open when she felt his warm lips break from hers. Almost as if to ask him why he had broken such a beautiful unision.
"Thank-you Hinata. I must go."
She heard that a bit too often, but nodded. Knowing this would be The Last time she would see him.
____
"Hinata... I said I love you.."
"I have a husband, Naruto."