I Want You For Myself (Sasuke/Itachi Romance)

44. Wonders

"Only a week," Itachi muttered to himself as he waited off to the side for the food he had ordered to take back to the inn he and Akira had been staying in. 

It had been a week since they had left the Akatsuki hideout and, as expected, they hadn't traveled as far as he would've wanted in that one week. He typically preferred to sleep on the road as there was less chance of being tracked that way. However, Akira, no matter how tough of an act she put on, was nowhere near fully healed from the wound her own sword inflicted. He wasn't sure if it was the constant traveling and moving that was making the healing process so slow, but it was abnormal for her injuries to linger for so long. One of the very few benefits of having a demon inside of her was the accelerated healing capabilities.

"Your order's up!" shouted the stall owner as he held out a bag towards Itachi. 

He kept his head low as he approached to take the bag, avoiding all eye contact with the man and leaving without a word of thanks. Being back in a town made him paranoid. The longer they stayed there, the higher the chance was of them being remembered or even recognized. 

Itachi speculated they had at most a week or two before Pein and the other Akatsuki members realized there was something off about their absence and come in search of them. That is, if they could even spare the members for a search. They did after all just lose two of their own. 

Itachi purposely took the back roads back to the inn they were staying at. It was on the outskirts of this rather large town, with just enough foot traffic in and out that no one would hopefully remember their faces and a way out directly into the surrounding wooded areas if, for whatever reason, they needed to escape quickly.

Itachi had arrived, but instead of walking directly in, he walked past the inn entrance and paused just on the cusp of where the road met the tree lining of the forest. His sharingan eyes scanned the tree line for the thing that had been following them ever since they began their journey. He calls it a "thing" because the chakra he was sensing didn't belong to a human being nor anyone he was familiar with. He had yet to see what it was because it always stayed far enough away to elude his eyes, but tonight it must be feeling quite bold as it was literally meters away.

"Why don't you come out now? You've been following us long enough, don't you think?"

The shadows in the trees seemed to dance as a breeze swayed the treetops, the moonlight too weak to illuminate the forest floor. From that darkness appeared a mass of white fur as a large wolf lifted its head from the cover of the shadows. 

Itachi's eyes narrowed, his body tensing at the sight of the animal. "A wolf?" He mused out loud. No. It may have passed for a mere animal to the normal eye, but the sharp intelligence in its eyes and its unnatural presence screamed otherwise. "A demon, no doubt," he stated, setting the package of food down at his feet preparing to fight or give chase.

Its ears perked at the sight of him preparing to fight and its head dipped low and out of sight for a few seconds before an amused voice drifted from the trees.

"Now don't be so quick to fight," the trees rustled and out stepped a white-haired man, his steps dangerously agile. "I'm a friend." 

His grin was sharp, and a tad bit unsettling. He says friend, but underneath that human exterior was a predator, and behind those blue eyes was calculated deception. Itachi had no patience for it. He could see right through it all anyways. He wanted answers.

"Why have you been following us?"

"Ah you Uchihas, always eager to get right to business." Kotaro tsked, his false grin falling from his face. "I suppose since I've been detected, why not formally introduce myself. I didn't plan on exposing myself this quickly, honestly, but you sensed me a lot sooner than I thought you would. If I had to guess, you knew I had been following you both since the beginning of this trip, haven't you?"