Book Of One-Shots

For: Vanessa (ItachixOC)

A gentle breeze blew by the young woman perched on a tree branch. Her name was Vanessa, and she was on an S Class mission to assassinate a merchant selling illegal weapons in the Land of Fire. Her amber eyes flashed as her red hair blew around her, she was ready to make her move. However, she would be cautious and wait for the right moment. There was no doubt in her mind the merchant had hired ninja to protect him, strong ninja at that. From what she could tell, they could be any where, she couldn't see them but she knew they were there. You could call it an intuitive hunch.

The merchant had just finished collecting his money from another customer when she decided it was time to strike, there couldn't be a better chance. She silently forms the hand signs for her Rasengan, it would be best to go for the kill immediately to avoid the chance of him getting away. The ball of wind chakra forms easily in her hand, she shifts her position and pushes off the branch, launching herself down towards her target at a fast pace.

She was on the ground, and gasping for breath before she knew what happened. The guard ninja she had been skeptical about finally showed themselves, and had made quite an entrance while doing so. There was two of them, one was standing off by the merchant, while the other had been the one to knock her to the ground mid-attack. He had managed to hit her in the side, throwing off her balance and causing her to hit the ground hard.

Vanessa quickly gets to her feet, she brushes herself off with,

"Well...that's one way...to treat a lady."

The two guard ninja were dressed similarly, they were both clad in Hidden Cloud armor, clearly from the Land of Lightning. The one in front of her doesn't give time for anyone to say another word as he immediately goes in to attack her again, this time with more precision. He aimed a punch for her stomach area, an easy attack to block. However, she was caught off guard as the second ninja joins the first. They were teaming up on her, which was hardly fair. Hell, nothing was fair in the world now.

She quickly ducks under both their arms and sprints forwards before jumping up into a tree again, she forms quick hand signs and a shadow clone poofs up at her side. Vanessa jumps down again with her clone next to her, they both ran towards the ninja again while forming more hand signs. This time her shadown clone and herself having their own Rasengan in hand, a trail of chakra was behind them as they continued forwards.

The first ninja counters her clone's Rasengan by knocking her arm off to the side easily, and they then went to hand to hand fighting, similar to the second and Vanessa herself. This continued for what felt like an eternity to her, before she finally gained the upper hand on them and was able to defeat them both with the help of her clone. Said clone poofs away she drops to her knees while panting heavily, the merchant had gotten away during her fight. She hadn't gotten a chance to focus on him because of the two ninja keeping her attention away from him, which only frustrated her. Her body was littered with deep cuts and bruises, and she was positive she had a broken rib or two, if not more.

She was about ready to fall to the ground and give up, yet she knew she had to complete her mission. No matter what. She shakily brings one of her hands up to her mouth to bite her thumb, she forms the sign and places her hand against the ground. A black ring forms and a poof of smoke comes up, as the smoke cleared, her ninja wolf was revealed in front of her. The wolf kneels down in front of her, allowing her to use his body as support to stand.

They continued onwards this way, her leaning against him while they tracked down the runaway merchant. He hadn't gotten far, that much was obvious. It didn't take much more time before she finally caught up to him, she forms a quick hand sign and performs a simple water jutsu. A stream of water forms from the moisture in the air, it shot forwards and pierced the merchant in the back. He falls to ground and blood quickly pools around his body, she had hit a vital area and he was already bleeding out. He'd be dead within moments, and she had faith she certainly would be as well.

Vanessa collapses completely against her wolf as her vision is filled with spots, her vision goes completely back as she passes out.

~

Vanessa was greeted with a bright ray of sunshine as she opens her eyes partway, she shuts them again with a groan. It was a wonder as to where she was, and how she got in this place as well. A voice speaks from her left,

"You had me worried sick about you, I thought you were never going to wake up."

She easily recognized the voice as Itachi Uchiha, her closest friend. She sighs heavily, then regrets it a moment after as pain shoots through her chest. The Uchiha then says,

"Take it easy, you've suffered some serious injuries. It's shocking the medical ninja as to how you survived the battle you went though."

She lies still on the bed, she could only assume that by what he's said, she was in the hospital, and that her wolf had brought her here. She'd have to think him later, he did save her life after all.

Vanessa turns her head to look at the raven haired Uchiha, just looking at him sent a tingling feeling though her body. She had had an odd sense of affection for him for awhile, but never had the guts to tell him. She was confident he wouldn't feel the same, she she had turned to keeping those feelings buried down deep.

"Vanessa," Itachi starts, a serious tone was to his voice, a tone she hadn't ever heard him use before,

"When your summoning brought you back to the village, you were a mess. I hadn't thought I'd ever get the chance to talk to you again, that I would lose you for good. But...now that you're awake, I have something I've been meaning to tell you."

She felt her heart beat faster all of a sudden, he wasn't going to say what she thought he was, was he? Itachi gets up from his seat next to her bed and sits at her side, the bed dipped down towards him as he sits. The Uchiha leans closer to her so that his lips were an inch from hers, he continues,

"I've been meaning to tell you...I love you."

She could hardly believe what he had just said, he actually said he loves her!

"I...I love you too Itachi," she replies with a smile,

"I've been meaning to tell you as well, just never had the guts to do it, ya know?"

That ever so rare smile found it's way to his face, he then closes the small space between them in a soft kiss.