Forever Uchiha

Chapter 3

After that incident on the bridge, I hadn't seen Itachi once. Months had passed and he hadn't come to talk to me even once. I couldn't blame him, considering that my Father had probably threatened him, and Itachi was very busy as an ANBU, but it still hurt that Itachi had made more promises than he could keep.

Most of the time I tried not to think about him. I tried to go about my business acting like nothing had happened. Pretending that the feelings I had for him didn't exist. But it didn't work. Every day, Itachi entered my thoughts, taking over whatever sanity I had left. As the abuses from my parents had gotten worse, I thought about Itachi even more. Where he was, what he was doing.......I wondered if he ever thought about me.

My grades at the Academy had dipped considerably. Between my thoughts of Itachi and the continuous abuse from my parents, study time was a rare thing. I tried my hardest, but often times, pain and frustration made it impossible to study. Of course, this only made my parents worse. They were practically choking me on thier leash, not allowing me to go anywhere, ever accept the Academy.

It was miserable, but I dealt with it. I never complained, or did anything to rebel against my parents will. I was afraid that if I did, Neji, or even worse, Hanabi, would be punished for my actions. I couldn't bear the thought of my cousin or my sweet sister getting punished for my wrongdoings. So, I toed the line. Never once lashing out, or fighting back. Instead I crawled into my shell, hiding from everyone.

My teacher at the Academy was concerned, of course. Iruka-sensei noticed my change in behavior and the dip in my grades. He tried hard to figure out what was going on, but his efforts were dashed every time. I started avoiding him desperately, and it obviously hurt his feelings, but I didn't want him to know the truth. It was too painful.

It had gotten bad enough that one day after classes had ended, Iruka held me back to talk to me.

"Hinata," Iruka shook his head. "Is something wrong? You've You've acting quieter than usual, you don't answer questions when normally your hand goes up first, and your grades have dipped! What is going on?"

"It's nothing." I whispered, not looking at him.

Iruka let out an exasperated sigh. "That's what you keep saying." He shook his head again. "But obviously it's not nothing."

I didn't answer him.

After asking me lots of questions I refused to answer, Iruka finally let me go. I felt bad not telling him, because he was obviously worried, but I didn't want to cause more trouble.

I exited the Academy building, and began my walk home. I kept my eyes to the ground, unable to look at any one. It wasn't until I was making my way through the marketplace that I noticed someone was following me. I glanced back, shock making me freeze. It was Itachi, except...it wasn't. His eyes had lost thier familiar sparkle, looking dead and cold. His beautiful face was now carved with lines, and he no longer had the same positive energy. The precious smile he'd once had was gone.

Itachi didn't look at me, keeping his perch in a tree, but I knew he was following me. I turned and kept going, pausing to look back at the tree Itachi had been in. He was gone. Sighing, I turned around, only to come face to face with the raven. I gasped, tensing at Itachi's cold eyes. After a moment his onyx eyes softened, showing a ghost of the affection he'd once gazed upon me with. But he no longer gave me the warm smile he used to. His face no longer brightening.

I was startled when Itachi wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close into his warm embrace. My first reaction was to push him away, but he refused to let me go. Instead, I returned his hug, wrapping my arms around his waist. We stood there for a moment in silence, simply enjoying each other's presence.