WANTED: Itachi Uchiha

Kyu

Itachi felt rough. His eyes stung worse than a papercut in the crevice of his fingers and his calves felt as though Might Guy had thwacked him with raw bamboo. Not to mention his arms. He wasn't even sure if he would be able to lift them high enough to remove his hair tie. 

He was the ultimate ANBU posterboy - worked ragged and permanently exhausted. 

Join the ANBU they said. You'll bring great honour to your clan and village they said. He wanted to punch whoever they were. All the ANBU life had brought him was monumental loss and bags beneath his eyes that resembled outrageous Kabuki makeup. He just wanted his bed and a day spent reading something that wasn't a mission report and to tend to his bonsai in peace. 

The Elder Uchiha just about made it home without collapsing. Itachi managed to shimmy up to the second storey and undo the latch of his bedroom window. Not one to let him down, the window slid up silently and allowed him passage with no toll. He slid off his mask, placing it on his desk before shrugging off his ninjato and weapons pouch. It was instant relief. 

Continuing his silent escapade, Itachi snuck into the bathroom, grateful for the  shower that ensued. The hot water, unlike last time, was soothing; despite not feeling fully clean, he felt as though a slight weight had been lifted. Even if it was just the remnant blood of his enemies. 

Towel drying his hair, he sluggishly pulled on a pair of pyjamas, the fabric luxuriously soft in comparison to the tough fabric of his uniform. He could not wait to crawl into bed and collapse into oblivion. Despite his room being pitch dark he knew how many paces he needed to take to reach his bed without walking into anything else. 5 to be exact. 

"Finally." He said with a sigh as his head hit the pillow. Until he froze. His entire body coiling into numerous knots. He wasn't the only person in the bed. 

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Reina hissed, her eyes lighting up like a cat's in the dark. 

"Fuck." 

"Fuck, indeed. You Tsukuyomi Inducing Bastard!" Reina spat, kicking the Elder Uchiha out of the bed and throwing the pillow at his face. Itachi stumbled, his body automatically kicking into survival mode. Reina was pissed. Rightfully so. 

"Reina-chan please…" Itachi whispered, pleading with her to keep her voice down. 

"Don't you Reina-chan me!" The Hitori Heiress sprung from the bed and began throwing a volley of punches, which were scarily accurate given her chakra signature was still so low and the room was pitch black. But it was when she grabbed his ninjato that his stomach volted. 

"Reina-chan, please, we can talk about this." Itachi said in between dodging her swings. She had yet to unsheathe the sword, however even in the scabbard her blows were swift and precise. It clearly wasn't her first time handling such a blade. 

"Talk?! You didn't give me the chance to talk to my grandmother! Why on earth would I let you talk now?!" She was in a blind fury, her world tainted red despite the lack of dōjutsu. Slipping his hand beneath the top of his desk, Itachi unsheathed a hidden kunai, parrying her blows despite his fatigue. 

Using the kunai, Itachi slid the blade down the length of the ninjato, forcing Reina to adjust her grip despite the tsuba blocking the kunai. Usually people dropped their weapon or attempted to parry their opponent back, leaving them open to attack or ungrounded footing. Reina didn't. She done something Itachi never expected. She swapped her grip to her non-dominant hand, using her free hand to hit the pressure points on his wrist in order to disarm him. 

It was a defense technique taught to ANBU members. 

Her next move hit the pressure point of his leg, causing the entire limb to go jelly like. In a flash Reina had him pinned to the floor, his own ninjato blade now drawn and pressed to his throat. 

"I trusted you." Reina muttered, tears streaming down her cheeks and dripping on his face. "You took advantage at a time when I was most vulnerable and needed someone."

Itachi didn't answer. Any words he used in an attempt to defend himself were futile. Reina was right. He had taken advantage of her state. But it hadn't been for his own means or personal gain - it was a lawfully evil decision. 

"Reina-chan, please don't slit Itachi's throat." Sasuke murmured from the door, a slither of buttery light illuminating their position, his own kunai hidden behind his forearm. "I kind of need him to teach me a new technique. And he can't exactly do that dead."

Reina stared at Itachi fearlessly. Deep down he knew that she would have stared him down even if he had activated his Sharingan. She had nothing left to lose. "I couldn't kill him with this sword anyway," Reina said as she rose to her feet, not breaking eye contact. "it needs rebalancing and whetting."

The Hitori Heiress sheathed the blade before throwing it at the Elder Uchiha, it momentarily winding him. "And you can put away the kunai now, Sasuke-kun. You won't be needing it tonight."

Sasuke nodded, watching as Reina picked up the pillows and crawled back into Itachi's bed without saying another word, oblivious to the Elder Uchiha's existence. Itachi stood, dusting himself off; Reina could have  slit his throat there and then. Part of him would have tried to stop her, fought back; the other half of him, the more desperate half, would have let her. 

That half would have even offered to sharpen the sword before she done it.