I Got Hots For My Rival~ Itachi Modern AU [NWA Winter'14 1st Place] REVISED

Chapter 19

~Itachi's POV~

Exiting Anna's room, I sighed. I had no idea why I offered to help in the building of the pond. Maybe it was the look in her eyes when she told me that she didn't want the flowers to die.

Having cardiomyopathy she has already been exposed to many losses so I guess its not easy for her to see even seemingly insignificant things fade.

"Yo Itachi. What did she want?" Eric asked when he spotted me in the hallway.

"I just got promoted from her rival to her tutor." I answered truthfully and saw that Eric was having a hard time controlling his laughter. "Why is that so funny?"

"Its just that, sis is an extremely slow learner and tutoring her never gets anybody any benefit."

"As far as I remember, she always had better grades than me."

"Those were the old times." He replied smirking and waved me off. "I got to go meet Manny at the back. See you later."

"Ok."

Once I arrived at home, I immediately went to my room and placed the lotuses aside to search on methods about making a pond. Noting more than a few things down, I went to the back yard to judge the size of Anna's yard and sighed when I noticed it would be an impossible task to create a pond there.

Not wanting the flowers to wilt, I took them to a very special place only I knew about. These beauties would thrive there, that I was sure of.

~

"Ah Itachi-san, you seem to be in a hurry." Kisame pointed when I quickly switched my shoes by the shoe-locker right after the class ended.

"Yes I have some things to do."

"Alright then. Wish Anna a get well soon from me." He said and left before I could protest. He was right though, the hospital was where I was headed.

Even though Anna told me to take my time, I felt I should just get there as soon as possible. I decided to head home first but my restlessness prevented any rationality on the matter.

Once at the hospital, I checked at the reception desk then went straight to Anna's room, only to be forbidden from entering until the doctor exited.

The thing that surprised me on the doctor's exit was the departure of a few other nurses. What the hell were they doing in there?

I knocked on the door then entered when given permission. The room smelled of strawberries. A very refreshing air lingered there.

"Yo Grizzly." Anna greeted from her bed where she was wiping her face from a towel.

"What..what was happening in here?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"A bath. In bed."

"Weird."

"Don't look at me man I thought the same thing." She put away the towel then looked at me and frowned. "I told you to take your time! You still have your uniform on! Did you rush here?" She seemed angry.

"Don't yell. Its not healthy for you." I answered while taking a seat beside her bed and while she tied her hair back.

"I didn't really think you would show up." Anna remarked with a smirk. I ignored that comment.

"You shouldn't tie your hair when they are wet. It can give you headaches."

"I don't care enough. Oh wait maybe I should take this advice from you." I rolled my eyes at her childishness when she stuck out her tongue.

"Why do I even bother?"

"Okay okay I will leave them like this." She said sighing and putting the band away. "So yes, lets start with whatever you like first."

"Ok Maths it is." I obliged by taking out the notebook.

"Ugh Maths. I hate Maths." Anna said slumping against her bed.

"It used to be your favourite subject. What happened to that?"

"A fricking lot." One thing I noticed that whenever some talk of the past came up, Anna would avoid eye contact.

"Like what?" I wanted to know more about what really happened. She looked at me and smiled.

"I don't talk about that much without going into serious attacks."

"But at least something. Everywhere I searched about your condition it said 'loss or death of a lover', is that correct? Who died? I know about your parents-"

"Woah stop right there. Those are an awful lots of words for you Itachi. Ahahahahha-" I knew the laugh she was laughing right now. It hadn't changed one bit. She wanted to change the topic but...

"Was it Emily?"

"Ahaha-"

Bullseye.

At this she looked me dead in the eye and I could see the words of confirmation in there, feeling extremely sorry for asking.

"Who else?"

"Ok stop. Yes Emily died. Yes my parents died. Yes Marcus died-crap."

"Marcus?" My question fell on deap ears because Anna completely silenced herself after she mistakenly spilled that name.

The name however, felt very familiar. It was there in the back of my head with the memories from the years I spent in US but hard to recall.

As if knowing what was going inside my head, Anna spoke smiling to me, "Give it some time Itachi. You will remember him. Him and all his charms."

That smile. So painful to show yet so beautiful to see. It made my heart wrench at the very thought of the sufferings this person had to go through at such a tender age. The wildness, the independence that was once Anna's very air, was lost in this moment, gone and replaced by the gloom of  mourn over the dead.

"Shall we start Maths? I don't want to disappointment in me to the first impression of Hatake sensei for me." I once again looked at Anna with remorse but she smiled yet again and spoke the words that only from her can cause my moods to shift. "Are you up for a challenge, Grizzly?"

~