Yet for all the wisdom Imi seemed to give off, Itachi could see she was uncertain.
He could guess why, though—her family had all been killed, leaving her the only survivor, and everyone was stating that the ninjas had appeared because of her. No doubt there was a part of her that felt guilty for it all. Not that he considered it her fault; the only ones to be blamed here were those ninja who had killed her family to begin with. Imi couldn’t help the abilities she possessed—whatever they were. They were a part of who she was. But regardless of the truth, it can be hard to think rationally when you’ve lost people you’ve loved. Let alone when you are there to watch them die.
Glancing back and forth between his eyes, Itachi could see the uncertainty in her eyes, not sure as to what she should do or say. Taking into account how late at night it was and the fact she was still awake, Itachi smiled softly, shaking his head in a way that Imi immediately understood to say that she needn’t say anything. With that, Imi felt herself relaxing slightly, though she didn’t move as Itachi came closer. It took Itachi to rest his palm on her elbow, gently turning her towards her bed, for her to finally act, merely going along with his actions for the moment, gathering what it was he wanted her to do.
But there was no sleeping now. Not after all that had happened—and especially not now Itachi had shown up. Imi could sense so much about him, but all underneath the surface, and in a strange way, he made her feel better. Though the fact she had lost her family didn’t fade fully from her mind, abruptly all she could focus on was Itachi. All the pain of the day dissipated as she looked back into his eyes, and she wanted to know why she felt such a connection, prompting her to speak up and ask a few questions. It felt good to be able to talk to someone, really; the silence that had arrived with the ninjas hadn’t lifted even after all this time, and Imi needed to hear a voice.
Itachi obliged, responding to everything she had to ask, noting the acuity of her questions and how intensely she looked at him all the time. The more he spoke with her, the more he felt he comprehended why the ninjas had chosen her; Imi was special, though exactly how Itachi couldn’t tell. But there was something about her that drew him in, getting into a much deeper discussion than he had thought as she finally slipped underneath her covers and sat back against the headboard of her bed. Then suddenly things altered slightly; as they fell into silence for a second, Imi’s eyes still focused on him, she stated something he hadn’t been expecting at all:
“You should be in bed too, Itachi-san.”
“Why would that be, Imi-chan?” Itachi responded in bewilderment, not quite knowing where she was going with this, only to freeze as she replied softly,
“You’re so tired. I can see it in your eyes. You’re always on guard; alert for something. You need to relax. There will be times when you will have to deal with difficult situations…you will need your strength then.”
To begin with, there was nothing Itachi could say in return. What was he supposed to say? The way Imi was looking at him and the way she had spoken…his heart automatically beat faster with the prospect, but he couldn’t help but think it. Could Imisense his situation? The Uchiha had already started talking about a rebellion against the village and it had shaken him. Though they hadn’t come up with a full plan—though there had been no mention of the things to come—discord was in the background all around him. It had certainly kept him up at night as he contemplated what he should do. Only…he hadn’t told anyone his thoughts.
So how could Imi know?
That feeling of wisdom Itachi had perceived; the possibility he had entertained of Imi being able to sense things…with this they came back even stronger than before. Was this what those ninjas had been after? If she could sense things like that…what more could Imi do? There was never any doubt that she would try and reveal what knew, however. Itachi knew, somehow, just by looking at her, that his secrets—her knowledge—would remain with her. The idea brought about sudden flashbacks; of how close he was to his family and yet how distant he had had to become, and an abrupt thought that maybe Imi could be the one person to understand him became clear through them all.
He didn’t have time to properly respond, though, as a second later one of his teammates—another ANBU member—walked past the doorway and spotted Itachi talking to Imi inside. Pausing at the idea, he quickly walked in and called out to him, causing Itachi to quickly turn round to face him, wondering why he had interrupted him. He was even more confused as the guy came to stand beside him, nudging him gently to say hurriedly,
“Uh…we have to go,” before taking Itachi's elbow and slowly leading him out.
Narrowing his eyes at his behaviour, Itachi tried to come up with a theory as to why he seemed so intent on dragging him out. But then he noticed that ever since the guy had walked into the room, he hadn’t looked at Imi once—at least not properly. He glanced at her form, but never bothered to make eye contact, and never kept his gaze on her longer than he had to. It dawned on Itachi that perhaps the reason for his unease had been Imi, though he had no idea why, and this was only brought to a head as they reached the doorway and Itachi was pulled aside, the ninja mumbling quietly, almost as if he was afraid Imi would hear,
“Hey, come on, Itachi-san. You don’t need to spend any more time with her than you need to. She’s…creepy.”
Itachi didn’t reply, his feelings towards his opinion clearly evident in his eyes. ‘Creepy’ was not the right word to describe Imi, Itachi knew that for certain. Her abilities were unusual, yes, and there was a lot about her even he couldn’t explain. But her abilities were incredible and interesting. Just because they weren’t something easily understood—if at all—that didn’t mean anyone had any right to write her off as ‘creepy’ or ‘weird’. Itachi by no means shared that opinion, and he was utterly intrigued by Imi.
And even more so by what she had said.
He wanted to know more; to be able to understand her in the way that she seemed to understand him, and there was only one way he was going to be able to do that. Once his mission was over and he was allowed to head back to the village, Itachi had immediately volunteered to act as Imi’s bodyguard. That way he would be closer to her and would be able to talk more, and much to his delight, it was granted. Several of the ANBU considered her as strange as the first had done, and didn’t like the idea of guarding her with what she could sense and just the general way she acted. But Itachi didn’t care in the slightest what they thought about her—
It just meant he had Imi all to himself.
