“Let people write whatever the fuck they want. Just because they write it doesn’t mean they condone it. Besides, Tumblr calls everything pedophilia. And the funny thing is… No one gives actually gives shit so long as the muses look older. Take my muse for example. fifteen years old in his manga, falls in love with a woman in her thirties who also falls for him. Yet I see no one screaming pedophilia there? Oh right, because he looks muscular, right? Fiction =/= reality or condoning. Learn that, you idiots.”
By the time Itachi is finished up, Iruka is just getting all the dishes set out at the table. He laughs as Itachi’s stomach growls, though he’s also eager for breakfast.
“Hungry this morning?” He has to tease him just a little bit, but it makes Iruka happy. Itachi doesn’t each much usually, so him having an appetite is a good thing.
“Do you think he’s excited to see you?” Itachi is always excited to see Sasuke, but he knows their relationship is a little strained right now. They’ve both been through a lot, and been told a lot of lies.
“He has been more receptive to the time we spend together.” It was…odd. Sasuke had been struggling, and Itachi did not want to have a part in the process of choice. Whatever his brother chose, whether to accept him or reject him, should’ve been up to him. Sometimes, he felt like the meetings were cheating.
But Sasuke had grown kinder in the time they spent together. More understanding of the pressure Itachi was going through during that time, even if Itachi could not excuse it himself. He was worried Sasuke might completely flip, and excuse Itachi and condemn the very village they both lived in.
So many he did need the meetings, to ensure that did not come to fruition.
Ah, but now was not the time to focus on that. Now he needed to get some food in him, giving a quick nod that’s so much like a child’s for an instant.
At first, Itachi says nothing. Merely dusts off his front, and feels around his own back, to test if bruises were going to form. They were just teenagers. Emboldened ones, sure. People far beneath his skill level, but it would be more of a threat if Itachi were to avoid them– or use genjutsu on fellow leaf villagers. …Not that his eyesight worth worsening for the likes of them.
He was somewhat protected, at least. Lady Fifth had sworn people were not to seriously main or try to kill him, but that didn’t stop things like ‘accidental’ cuts, or like today…where people like to push him. The clerk had been understanding, once it was made clear he hadn’t broken anything.
“It’s alright." His default statement. He holds no anger. Wants nothing done in retaliation. Simply reaches over for the bag he was meant to carry back.
Bad wording. An implication that it was not worth sleeping with him. It was enjoyable, and he didn’t have any plans of escape, nor even moving to a different bed.
But he will nod. Concede for now. “I will.” Just his regular morning shower, and then he will do some light tidying while Iruka makes them both food.
It’s nice to get back into their usual routine. Iruka gets out of bed, scanning the room for his clothes. Thankfully, he puddled most of them in the same spot on the floor. It’s easy enough to slip them back on again for breakfast, even though putting on dirty clothes again is far from his favorite feeling.
He sets about making breakfast. When he lived alone, he used to meal prep for a few days at a time and eat leftovers for both breakfast and lunch. With Itachi around, he actually cooks a lot more especially on the weekends. Lately, he’s gotten especially good at the traditonal breakfast, the kind his mother used to make when he was a kid.
Nothing looks stained, really…except the sheets. And Itachi has learned to utilize the wash, not wanting to be completely useless while Iruka teaches a new generation of shinobi. He’s far from excelling– considering his natural talent for learning and quickly, but he does enough. Enough it keeps him busy, enough he isn’t allowed for his mind to wander and remind him that he doesn’t deserve to be here, much less breathe.
(That was a work in progress.)
“Sasuke’s scheduled to visit today.” He mentions, carefully kneeling down at the table. What he lacks in immediate verbal thanks his stomach makes up for– sex has given him an appetite this morning, and it’s growling.
In other words she was a hindrance to him. With that a soft sigh passed her lips because she didn’t have much room to argue. While she was a master at taijutsu, her skills with the Sharingan were sub-par and pretty much unusable. Her teachers had told her that she didn’t have the necessary chakra levels to use the skill for long. Which is why she passed out when using it for longer than a few moments.
“No – I can help…”
Stubborn to her core she wasn’t going down without a fight, but she was just so tired. Her eyes fell to half mass as she fought to keep them open. Seemed as though the blood loss was finally catching up with her. “Don’t go without me.” Izumi mumbles as she loses the fight to stay awake. Her eyes fall shut and she leans onto Itachi, making herself comfortable without asking him. She highly doubted he would push her away, even if she wasn’t injured.
Itachi will have to disappoint her.
But for the rest of the night, he will stay with her. He is too focused on the mission to sleep proper, allowing her to lean into his side. Careful of her injury, he works her into his arms. It’s…to keep a track of her heartbeat, he tells himself. And to keep her warm, despite the blanket.
At first light, he acts. Places her on the ground with all the caliber of a deadly, teenage assassin, curled in her blanket and all. Allows her to have her kunai back, and sets several traps outside the cave entrance, to mask her chakra and warn him of intruders ahead of time.
The men prove little trouble for him, and Itachi will return a few hours later.
Izumi nods as she puts her shirt back on. She pulls the blanket tighter against herself and offers him a small smile, “Thank you.. For coming after me. The office failed to give me the full details of the mission. I was under the impression I’d be able to handle it and get back in time for dinner. I guess I was wrong.”
The kunoichi cringes slightly as she leans back against the cave of the wall. “We can complete the mission together.. I don’t want it to just get dumped on you. I can still help you fight.”
Not that he needed her help. Itachi was one of the best fighters that she knew. In fact, she could probably learn a thing or two from him while they were out here.
He shakes his head gently. He is firm in his decision.
“You were sent out for a mission above your skill level. Please rest. I will finish it and we can return safely.” This was hindering her movements. Without a medic on the team, she would have to heal naturally. It meant he would have to rely on her Sharingan alone to help him in the fight. As far as Itachi was aware, her use of it had not improved all that much.
And once she fainted….she became a dangerous liability. A target which could be used against him, if she wasn’t captured before that.
He will scoot closer, if that is what it takes to convince her.
UchihaSavior 