Masked Beauty [Itachi Love Story]

Chapter four: Back on the path.

Itachi just held his crouching position staring at what seemed to be his teammates. When in fact, he was staring at nothing at all. He was staring into space, you might say, and was really deep in thought. His mind has eaten away at his intentions to sleep, and he no longer felt tired.

Iasmu had said that he had the same knowledge that Itachi had. Which was nothing. Itachi knew absolutely nothing, so was that what he meant? How can that be. How can someone not know themselves. The only person who should know all about you is yourself, and no body other than that. So how can he know nothing? Thats absurd.

Isamu knew how to fight, talk, read, write, cook, and generally take care of himself. Itachi couldn't help but think about how it is possible for him to know nothing. He even knew what he did. He obliterated his village. If he knew that, then how can he know nothing?

The thoughts spiraled in Itachi's mind trying to figure out the puzzle that had caused him so much confusion. Unfortunately for him though, this puzzle was far from being completed. It was missing a lot of pieces.

Pieces that Itachi was going find, for sure. He was really determined now.

***

Izunami woke up with an uneasy feeling, and when she looked up into the trees she knew why. Uchiha was still up there from yesterday. He was wide awake, and obviously couldn't sleep because of the way the branch he was on is. Izunami couldn't see a way of sleeping on there so she automatically assumed that Itachi couldn't either.

Its not that she finds herself superior, she just considers everyone as an equal to her until they give her a reason not to. She knows better than to under or over estimate. The outcome is never good. So when she doesn't know what a person is capable of she classifies them as her equal. That is, until they show how they actually are. Then she determines if she is superior or just an underling. She knew not of the Uchiha's abilities so if she can't find a possible way of sleeping on that branch then neither could he.

"Finally Isamu, you are awake."

"You shouldn't care if I am." Izunami snaps in a low growl. Secretly, she was never a morning person. But everyone who ever was their to witness her wake up during missions knew that. Which makes Izunami rethink that 'secretly' part. Just about everyone knew actually. The only people that were left to find out were the Uchiha and Hoshigaki. And you can check Itachi off that list.

"On the contrary, you were the last one to wake up, and we don't want the mission to be delayed just because you have an odd sleeping pattern now do we?"

Izunami furrowed her eyebrows, regardless if the Uchiha can see or not, and turned to the side to see the tree Hoshigaki was resting on when she fell asleep. Needless to say he wasn't there, and what Itachi had told her was true. She was the last to awaken.

Izunami can't help but blush under mask out of embarrassment. This actually never happened, ever. Even if she was the last to sleep, she was usually always the first to wake up. She had made this a habit due to her trust issues and her mental vision of someone peeking under her mask while she was asleep.

"Exactly. Now if you will, get up so we can get moving again."

"Don't patronize me Uchiha." Izunami grumbles as she hastily gets to her feet and starts to exit the clearing to avoid a full fledged conversation with Itachi.

The Uchiha has just watched his partner get up and walk out of the clearing. He turned around and jumped a few branches before jumping onto the ground to catch up.

"Aren't you forgetting something Isamu?" Itachi says as he walks toward his partner to be adjacent to him. They walked in silence for a few seconds until Izunami decided to answer flatly.

"No."

Itachi sighs and changes his stare from his partner to straight forward. "Have you forgotten about Kisame already?"

Izunami widens her eyes, now remembering the other teammate she had. She didn't want to admit it though. "No." She replied once again.

"Well you're lucky he's already on the path waiting for us." Itachi stated, completely ignoring his partners reply. After he jumped back up into the treetops to reach the path quicker, without Izunami.

He left her behind alone, much to her dismay. Izunami actually hated being alone. Being alone gives her too much time to think, and the last thing she wanted was to get caught up in her thoughts. Sometimes she wonders if she forgot everything for the better. What if she chose to forget everything because what she knew was painful? What if she actually remembered everything, and then regretted it afterwards? What if everything she knew wasn't even worth remembering? What if she forgot everything because she can't handle knowing it...

"Izunami are we going to go or not?" Kisame said waving a hand in front of his partners blank face.

Izunami broke out of her zoned out state to stare at her partner with a weird face. She hadn't even realized that she made it to the path, but thats not what caused her such inner turmoil.

"What did you just call me?" She asked, trying her hardest to hide the panic in her voice.

"Your name, Isamu?" Kisame said tilting his head in confusion.

"Heard something else." Izumani muttered back, mostly to herself, before turning around so that her back is facing her partners. "Lets go."

And with that she started walking, not even bothering to check if her two teammates were behind her. She just kept thinking with a deep scowl on her face.

How is it that she kept hearing her name? Is she just going crazy? How is it that she felt that everyone knew her secret? How come she feels that maybe the only person she's actually tricking is herself... ?