Itachi was happy Imi was safe; but he hadn’t forgotten what had happened.
If he hadn’t of walked out in the morning and left Imi alone in his room, she wouldn’t have followed. She wouldn’t have been walking alone and they wouldn’t have found her. It had been down to the way he was feeling—but after all that had happened now…Itachi felt more certain than before. Regardless of how things went, he knew he cared about her and always would. They still had things to talk about, true, but for now the only thing that mattered was that Imi was safe—and that she had managed to overcome her fear. He’d known from the start how afraid she was of her past, having met her just after her family had been killed. He’d seen how it had affected her. So now…to see she had managed to move on…it was enough to bring a smile to his face.
“Are you sure you’re alright? Your not injured, or—” He added again, wanting to make sure nothing was wrong, only for Imi to shake her head and respond swiftly, cutting him off,
“Itachi-kun, I’m fine. Really. You said yourself that they wanted me alive and well—they weren’t going to injure me. But…thank you for coming.”
“There’s nothing to thank me for. There’s no way I’d let them take you. Not after all they’d done to you.”
The smile that had blossomed on Imi’s face stayed with Itachi's words, but now everything was over and done with, she just wanted to get out of here. She’d had enough excitement for one day, and it was time to head back, voicing this fact out loud. Nodding in agreement with her, Itachi turned and began to walk towards the hold Imi had created with her abilities. She followed, pausing only to thank Kisame for coming as well—to which he shrugged and brushed it off, pointing out she was his friend too; he didn’t want to see her hurt—and Pein had asked him to come, anyway. Though smirking at his response, Imi accepted his words and joined Itachi, beginning to make their way back to the hideout as Itachi told them he had spoken with Pein and he knew the situation.
“I gotta say though, what you did in there…that was pretty impressive, Imi! I knew you were strong, but still…” Kisame began as they went off, and glancing away at the memory, Imi replied dismissively,
“I’ve always had telekinesis. I just don’t use it very often considering I can end most of my battles without it. Though I suppose I felt I had to use it this time around.”
Kisame smirked at her words and how she was acting, and never taking his gaze off the forest ahead, he retorted slyly,
“Yeah, well, when the people you love are in danger, you tend to go above and beyond your normal limits.”
Itachi instantly caught it, however, and threw a glare—albeit halfheartedly—over in Kisame's direction. Glancing over and seeing the way he was looking at him, Kisame quickly put his hands up platonically, acting innocent as he shot back, unable to hold back a grin at the same time,
“What? I might have been talking about me!”
But Itachi wasn’t exactly placated with that comment, replying simply,
“If that’s the case, Kisame…then I’m afraid I’m going to have to hurt you.”
Imi couldn’t help but chuckle at the conversation, shaking her head and feeling better than ever. Though she glanced up at Itachi every now and again, understanding they still had to talk, she wasn’t worried about the outcome this time around. When she had been sitting in that cell, she couldn’t stop that tiny voice in her head that kept wondering whether it hadn’t meant anything to him…but that voice was gone now. Itachi's actions had proved her doubts were wrong, and Kisame's comment was more helpful than it appeared on the surface. If someone else could see the way Itachi felt, then he wasn’t exactly unsure as to how he felt about Imi; especially considering the way he had then reacted in return.
So they all let the mood continue, Kisame swiftly changing the subject to how Pein would definitely be asking her to join permanently now. Happy about this, as well, Imi questioned it, but as Kisame stated he’d been discussing her abilities for a while now, even Itachi saying there was no way he wouldn’t ask her, she admitted she was certainly willing to agree to the whole thing. It was almost strange to see Itachi perfectly okay with her joining the Akatsuki permanently. At the beginning, after all, he had hated the idea and had been determined to get Imi away from the Akatsuki before it could happen. Of course, that had been before he had seen how much he loved having her around; before he had fully understood the way he was feeling. He might not share Imi’s sensing abilities, but he, too, was starting to get the feeling that she was meant to be here; that she belonged.
But Itachi wanted Imi to stay; he felt guilty for having got her into that mess, and he couldn’t shake it. Though he was glad she was fine, it continued to hover in the back of his mind, and it came fully to the front as they finally reached the hideout a while later. The silence had been a content one between them, but Itachi's thoughts remained tumbling around, hating what he had done. As Kisame saw several of the Akatsuki waiting outside to see what had happened, he jogged ahead to go and greet them, leaving Imi and Itachi to follow on behind. Imi didn’t hesitate to do so, but she stopped as she noticed Itachi's footsteps slowing, and looking over her shoulder, she frowned in confusion, questioning as to what was wrong. Sighing inwardly, Itachi responded quietly, shaking off his thoughts for the moment,
“Nothing, Imi-chan. I’m just…glad you’re okay.”
Narrowing her eyes, knowing that he wasn’t telling the truth, Imi let it be for the moment. There was no sense starting to talk about everything now; not when the others were around. It would come later—though it wasn’t easy to simply smirk and nod back in acceptance of that fact, walking off to join the Akatsuki and leaving Itachi behind for a moment. Itachi was not one to let his inner emotions and thoughts affect his outward actions, and yet she seemed to have been doing a lot of that lately. Itachi wasn’t the only one feeling guilty; Imi felt to blame for letting herself be caught at all. But there wasn’t much she could do about it now, bowing slightly to Pein as he greeted her and asked if she was alright.
She explained the basics of the situation; that she had known the ninja since childhood—that they had killed her family—and that they’d come back for her. Kisame had clearly already told them about her telekinesis, as there were several questions about it, and after doing a full explanation of what she could do with it, Pein went ahead and asked Imi to join right then and there. In return, she didn’t need to hesitate or think about her response. She had known about what might happen when she had agreed to help them out at the start; she wouldn’t be backing down now—though it wasn’t as if she really had a choice, prompting her to nod and accept.
Itachi wasn’t unhappy about this, having known it was coming and wanting it to happen—but until he’d talked to Imi about this, the guilt wouldn’t leave him, watching her from afar with a frown as he whispered softly to himself,
“I’m sorry, Imi-chan. I never meant to hurt you.”
Before the frown disappeared behind the mask he always wore…
Just like it always did.
