Where We Belong

Chapter VI

Konoha Hospital, three days later...

The man with the ponytail and onyx eyes shook himself slightly between the sheets before waking up. He gritted his teeth the moment he opened his eyes and turned to his left with some degree of difficulty, looking at the woman sitting beside him through blurry eyes. Konan realized that Itachi was awake and immediately warned him not to move, pointing out that he had just woken up after three days under an induced coma due to his low Chakra levels. The ebony-haired man nodded slowly to then ask her for some water, admitting to being quite thirsty. The blue-haired ex-Akatsuki stood up and walked over to the bedside table grabbing the jar there and served a glass with water, handing it over to her friend. Konan lifted Itachi's head slowly to help him drink and at that moment someone else walked into the room. That person –Shizune- stood still for a moment, simply watching the scene unveiling before her eyes until the two shinobi noticed her presence; Konan, with an ever so faint blush on her cheeks. After a moment, the orange-eyed woman stood up excusing herself with the medic-nin though, before leaving, she caressed the ebony-haired man's face ever so gently and told him that she would let the others know that he had woken up. Itachi nodded slowly, trying not to exert himself too much and replied:

- Thank you Konan; and thanks for taking care of me...

The woman didn't say anything and instead bowed at Shizune before leaving the room. As soon as the orange-eyed woman abandoned the place, Tsunade's older student walked over to Itachi's bedside and began her routine examination. She suddenly heard light laugh coming obviously from the older of the Uchiha and, when she looked at him, the ponytailed man stated that he needed not even his Sharingan to realize what she was thinking. And he had to admit that she was right in her suspicions. In an admittedly strange way, he had to confess that he was falling for his former Akatsuki partner. Shizune covered her mouth with a hand hiding her own laugh to later on admit that she too had felt something about someone 'forbidden' or 'off-limits' so to speak, despite the fact that they were the same age. And he knew that man very well. Itachi's smile only widened. Of course he knew she was referring to Kakashi. He nevertheless ignored why Shizune would consider Naruto's Sensei as 'off-limits' when they had been fellow Academy graduates. However, he would not be able to satisfy his doubt for two reasons. On the one hand, a somewhat annoying rather than intense pang in his eyes caused him to let out an involuntary hiss and, on the other, he let out an even more unexpected yawn. The black-haired and black-eyed woman didn't even worry (not as much as it would be expected, that was) when she noticed that, for she knew Itachi would experience that sort of discomfort sooner rather later after being asleep for three long days. Besides, Tsunade had advised her not to cover his eyes while he had to stay in the coma they had had to put him under.

- I will put drops in your eyes before giving you a pain reliever or else this discomfort is likely to persist when you wake up again...

Itachi once again attempted to answer, but yet again a new yawn prevented him from doing so. He smiled tiredly and visibly defeated. It appeared that he would have to give in to his body's needs.

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Hokage's Office, a week later...

- I believe this must be it for today...

Naruto said tiredly as he finished signing some papers to send his fellow Kage in preparation for the oncoming Kage Summit to take place within a month. He stood from his char and, before he hanged the Hokage cloak on the coat hanger beside his desk, he heard soft knocks on the door. His only companion at that moment, Shikamaru, extended an arm as if asking him to stay and walked over to the door himself instead. It surprised him to see Itachi Uchiha standing there, though that wasn't what shocked the black-haired man with the mid-height ponytail the most in fact. Shikamaru actually opened his coffee brown eyes wide upon seeing the older Uchiha wearing his Jōnin uniform. Ignoring that for the time being he let the ponytailed ebony-haired shinobi in as he moved to a side and announced that he would return home, reminding Naruto that he would be expecting him and his family to accompany them that night. Turning to the man with the Sharingan, Nara also extended the invitation to him, hoping that his female companion accepted this time and explaining to him that they would be celebrating Shikadai 22nd birthday. Besides, he concluded turning to Naruto for the last time, they also had some news to tell them. Thus, all of his best and old friends would accompany them as well. As he walked by Itachi, Shikamaru told him that his brother Sasuke and his family would be among them; therefore, he expected him to join them too.