The sun had yet to come up.
But Itachi couldn’t sleep. No matter what he did, he couldn’t drift off and simply remained awake as the time slowly ticked by. Imi hadn’t had such a problem; she was sleeping soundly next to him, her head resting against his shoulder and her hand gently touching his chest. For a while, Itachi had thought he would do the same. When he had started kissing Imi—when it all developed from there—there hadn’t been any doubt in his mind that anything was wrong or that he would be feeling like this. But once Imi fell asleep, no longer talking and cuddling together, the silence took over…and Itachi was left with nothing but his thoughts to keep him company. And he wasn’t exactly enjoying it.
It wasn’t that anything had gone wrong; but it was the fact that he’d done it in the first place. There had been no planning on consideration beforehand in the way he usually would. A few minutes after talking and he’d just been…all over Imi. Itachi hadn’t been thinking at all; it had just been pure emotion that had ruled his actions last night. Whether he regretted it or not, he wasn’t sure. He loved Imi, yes, and he wanted to be with her…but should he have done that? Why did he become like that anyway? Why was it that this was what his feelings led to? Surely just because he cared about her it didn’t mean he had to launch himself at her like he’d done.
So many hours he’d spent contemplating those questions, and as they began to repeat themselves, he realised he wasn’t coming up with any answers. He felt trapped; like there were too many thoughts inside his head and he needed to get rid of them. He needed an escape; and as he glanced to the side and out of the window, he realised the most obvious choice right now. Though Itachi wasn’t about to simply abandon Imi, he needed some fresh air and get out of the hideout. Maybe the cool night air would help him clear his head, and as such he gently slid himself out of bed, making sure not to wake Imi. He collected his clothes and dressed quickly, slipping out the door without a sound.
No one saw him as he left the hideout and headed into the trees; picking a random direction and allowing his thoughts to take over once again. He felt almost guilty for what had happened, and he wasn’t sure what to do now he was in this position. Itachi didn’t want to force Imi into anything; to pressure her, and yet that’s what it had felt like he’d done. But she’d agreed—she had accepted the kiss and everything that came after. It was completely mutual—Itachi knew they’d always had a close connection that felt like more than friends—so why was he even feeling that? Perhaps it was the possibility that Itachi could actually be ruled by his emotions. It was never something that had happened before, and to honest, Itachi wasn’t sure he wanted it to happen again.
There were things he had to hide from the world.
He was fine with accepting his emotions when it came down to Imi. He wasn’t trying to get rid of them or say he didn’t love her; he knew he did. Only the idea that that kind of thing was possible…that was what Itachi was worrying over. He was barely keeping an eye on where he was going, everything having slipped away apart from what he was thinking about. Itachi was certain that he didn’t want to get into the same state he had done like last time. Letting things build up to that point was clearly not an option. But asking Imi for advice didn’t seem like a good idea either. He didn’t want it to look like he regretted having sex with her; that he was pushing her away.
But it was tearing him apart. Itachi didn’t fully understand why he had reacted that way, whether it could happen again or what was really going on inside his head, but he was certain in the fact he cared about Imi either way. If he was going to shake off this stupor he’d gotten himself into, he had to do it in a way that wouldn’t drag Imi into it like last time. Itachi didn’t want to ignore her or end up getting angry at her because of something he was dealing with. And as he squinted and threw up a hand to get away from the bright shaft of light that hit his face, he paused and looked back. He’d been out walking for longer than he’d planned to—it was already past sunrise. Imi would have most likely woken up by this point, and found he wasn’t there. She had to be upset; thinking that he’d just left without saying anything—and regardless of the turmoil in his mind, Itachi wasn’t going to hurt her like that.
But that wasn’t quite the case.
Imi had woken up, true, and she had noticed that Itachi wasn’t there, frowning in concern as she sensed he wasn’t even in the hideout. But she never became upset about it—instead, she was worried. Itachi had clearly had a lot on his mind lately, and it was why he had been avoiding her before. Obviously something was still bothering him, and because she’d been sleeping, he’d headed out—most likely for a walk. Though Imi paused, knowing that he probably needed to have some time to think, she shook her head a moment later and began to get out of bed. Last time it had been talking with Kisame that had helped him out of his stupor, rather than being alone. No doubt it was the same this time—only this time she’d be the one to help him.
Within moments Imi was dressed and out the hideout before anybody had even gotten up, trying to sense him and heading off into the trees. She poured over possibilities as to why he was still troubled, but Imi couldn’t pick a concrete answer. A part of her considered the idea he felt like it had been a mistake, but somehow that didn’t feel right. It felt like more than that for Itachi to be acting how he was—but what exactly the cause was, Imi didn’t know. It meant that she, too, slipped into a trance of her own as she continued through the forest after Itachi, absentmindedly attempting to follow her abilities and not trip over anything.
It meant that at first she didn’t notice anything.
Even when it occurred to her that there was something different she sensed, it took a while for Imi to do anything about it. After all, something about it seemed strangely familiar, even if it was a mystery at the same time. But that in itself made Imi hesitate. Everything she sensed she had an excellent memory of. Once she had sensed someone, she never forgot it, and could always recognize them. So why couldn’t she remember this? If it was so familiar, it should be easy to figure it out, and yet it always felt as if it disappeared into the recesses of her mind every time she tried to get a hold on it.
When people started appearing in front of her, however, it all came back.
Imi was a very efficient ninja and always had been. She did what was necessary and always got the mission done—even if she wasn’t a big fan of violence. She was good at what she did and everyone knew it; the moment there was a threat she reacted and dealt with it accordingly. But it was different now. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t think…it felt like she couldn’t even breathe. All concepts of the ninja arts and fighting that she had learnt all her life simply vanished from her mind as she stared at the people in front of her. No words came out of her mouth, even as they began to speak—as they began to surround her.
And she knew they were. Imi could see each of them circling round, knowing exactly what they were doing, and yet she didn’t move or try to counter it. They simply continued as she tried to fight down her fear—an emotion that Imi hadn’t experienced in a while. In the back of her mind Imi knew that Itachi and the rest of the Akatsuki were nearby—that they wouldn’t have any worried about fighting them. But consciously there was nothing going through Imi’s head; it was simply images and memories that flashed before her eyes.
Which made her an easy target when they finally attacked a moment later.
