Fine

Chapter 8

At this point, I swear we've tried on a thousand outfits. This is worse than going on long missions. I walked out of the changing room with my last outfit on. My legs felt kind of exposed with the rips of the black jeans. My stomach, on the other hand, felt way more exposed. I was wearing a crop top much like Sai's except it was a dark blue. Luckily I had a long black cardigan to cover myself with. "Oh my goodness. You look amazing" The lady, which I now knew as Kiri, squealed. "I feel exposed and vulnerable" I slowly slinked my arms around my stomach with the cardigan. "You look great and don't worry. If anyone hits on you I'll send them straight to hell" Konan balled her hand in a fist. I smiled at them. "Thanks but I don't think that will happen"

Their smiles fell. "Don't put yourself down like that" Kiri hugged me. "She's right, young man. Don't forget how beautiful you are" Masayu~san, the old shopkeep, said. I smiled at their kind words. Compliments never came easy, I had to work for them. Rarely did I ever get compliments in the village. The village. My smile faltered. "What's wrong" Konan seemed to notice my smile slip. I shook my head. "It's nothing" She frowned. "Ok let's go check out" Konan grabbed my hand and led me to the counter, "We'll talk about it on the way home". I was shocked at her statement, but by her tone, I knew she was serious. I nodded and waited while she paid for my clothes.

"Thanks again!" Konan yelled to the employees while walking out of the store. "Anytime, can't wait to see what happens between those two!" I tripped over my foot at Kiri's embarrassing remark. I waved bye to them and continued walking back with Konan. We had walked but a distance before Konan brought up earlier. "Why did you look so sad?" I shrugged, "I guess my thoughts trailed to my village. I shouldn't be missing it after everything they did to me, but I've lived my whole life there. Everything, all my first experiences, school, missions, my whole life was in that village. I love it with all my heart, I just wish the villagers hadn't hated me so much. I tried to forgive them when everything first started happening to me. Instead of telling myself it was them and not me, I made myself believe it was my fault and not their stupid opinions. Part of me still believes I could've been better, do something that would make them love me. No, not love me. Just, at least tolerate me, that was all I could ever ask for"

I suddenly realized how long I had been talking. "I'm sorry, I trailed off" I looked away as we walked in silence. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "Why did you keep all this to yourself?" I didn't answer her question. I hadn't ever really thought about it. Why not tell someone? "I don't know. Maybe, maybe I never have because I've never had anyone to talk to about things. I had people to talk to but I didn't think any of them would understand my situation or my pain" Konan smiled at me. "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore. We've all been through a lot of pain. We'll be with you, and if at some point one of us isn't, I'll kill them"

I looked around realizing that we had made it back to the base. "I'm going to eat your food if you two don't get over here quick" yelled a certain silver-haired man. My lips formed into a shaky smile as I began to cry. I turned and hugged Konan. "Thank you" my voice was barely above a whisper. She hugged me back and rubbed my back. "You don't need to thank me," we released from the hug, "Now let's go eat some food. I'm sure you're hungry" As if on cue my stomach growled. I blushed at the awkward noise. "Yeah". We set down the bags of clothes on the couch and headed to the table. I wiped my arms across my face to rid all traces of tears, though I knew my eyes would look red and puffy.

Konan and I sat down in our spots and began eating. "What happened to you" Kisame asked. "Yeah, you look like hell," Deidara said. "That was rude. Anyways, I've been trying on clothes all day" I kept eating as they asked questions. "Why are your eyes r-OW," We all turned to look Yahiko's sudden outburst. Konan put her hand over her mouth in an almost mocking manner. "Oops, sorry. My elbow slipped" We all looked at each other, confusion written on our faces. Well, not me actually. I heard what he asked before Konan elbowed him. I silently thanked her.

We finished eating and people began leaving the table one by one. A yell screeched across the room, "Deidara! You're on cleaning duty tonight come back here!" "Nooo! I hate cleaning" He pouted. "I can do it" I offered. "But you cleaned it this morning and the other night," Konan said. I shrugged."I'm used to cleaning every night so it's ok," Konan gave me a disapproving look. "It's fine I promise" She sighed but quickly changed moods with a smirk. "Hey Itachi, do you think you could help him?" That's why she was smirking. Are you kidding me? "I don't see why not"

Everyone was gone for the room except me and Itachi. I looked at him while he helped me with the cleaning. "You really don't have to help me if you don't want to. I can do it by myself" He stopped what he was doing to look at me. "It's ok. I'm not doing anything else so I might as well help. Or, might it be that I make you uncomfortable" He questioned. "No no no, it's not your fault. Sorry, I shouldn't have asked" I quickly went back to cleaning and shut my mouth. I was so focused that I didn't the gaze on me. I finished cleaning everything and looked over at Itachi. "Finished" "Me too". We began to walk back to the room. "Oh, can you wait just a second? I have to go get my clothes off the couch," "Do you need help?" I thought about it. "That would be nice" We walked to the couch and got the clothes, resuming our walk to our room.

We made it and I collapsed on the bed. I'm sooooooooooooooooooooo tired. Oh, I should probably get off his bed. I slowly picked myself up. "Where do you want me to put my clothes?" I asked. "Just set them in the closet" I walked over to the closet and placed them down. I turned around to walk back to the room but ran into something instead. "I'm so sorry," I said looking up at Itachi. He continued to the closet to put the clothes down. "It's fine," He says that, but I can't help but feel embarrassed.

"You can shower first" Itachi offered to me. I nodded grabbing some clothes. "Um, this sounds weird, but can I wear your shirt again? It was really comfy" I scratched the back of my head. Why do I get so flustered so easily? "He walked over and grabbed the shirt for me. To say I was shocked doesn't even begin to describe it. "Thank you" I quickly said before running to the bathroom. This is so embarrassing. I slapped my hands on my face. Get over Naruto. Come on. I hopped in the shower and got ready for bed as fast as I could.

I walked out of the bathroom and put my clothes in the dirty laundry. "Where do you want me to sleep?" I asked. I know I slept in his bed last night, but it might make him uncomfortable if I did it again. "If it doesn't make you uncomfortable you can sleep in my bed with me". Well, that was unexpected. "Yeah, as long as you're ok with it," I said. He nodded. "I'm going to shower then" He walked to the bathroom.

I walked to his bed and crawled under the covers. As soon as I hit the pillow I began to fall asleep. A lot of things happened today. Just thinking about it makes me tired. I thought I would fall asleep before Itachi finished showering but it appears I was wrong. I heard the bathroom door open and Itachi turned the lights off. The bed shifted under his weight causing my back to slightly lean towards him. Just go to sleep Naruto. I gave myself a pep talk to fall asleep. I slowly drifted off, leaning against Itachi's back. What a funny situation this is.