Mirror, mirror. [Naruto] [Itachi Uchiha] (Complete)

Chapter 48

Reina froze. That man. That man was familiar to her. The cambers and contours of his face were too intimate for her liking; she recognised them in a way that meant she had seen him before. Not in passing, but up close and personal. His movements and mannerisms were too fluid and predictable; they were regal, precise. He didn't belong to this world; even if he did he didn't belong here - with her.

She felt like she was going to vomit. Nausea rumbled in her stomach and crept up her throat threateningly. She had gone deathly white, like she had seen a ghost. But he wasn't a ghoul or spectre. He was an apparition from her past that had come back to haunt her.

“Reina-chan, are you alright? You look like you're going to be ill.” Itachi asked softly.

“Reina what's wrong? Who can you see?” He called through the indenture, keeping his eyes focused on her. A shudder rippled down his spine when he saw what she saw. It was Tsukuyomi. A muscle feathered in his jaw. Even now the moon deity clearly wanted him out of her life; he would stop at nothing to ensure they remained apart.

“Reina look at me,” Itachi ordered quietly, his eyes willing her to look away. “Reina.”

She shook herself out of her daze, her eyes glossed over in horror. She needed to remember. It couldn't go on like this. She couldn't live day to day on mere fragments of past events; she needed to remember so she could protect the ones she loved.

“Gomen, I…I zoned out. What were you saying?” Her skin was still deathly pale, she was visibly shaken.

“I need you to act normally. I'm going to get answers.” Reina stated through the bond. Her voice was hard, it had an edge to it that made Itachi’s stomach jitter. Before he could dissuade her otherwise a nearby fruit stall crashed to the ground, explosions of colourful fruit rolling off into the crowds. The crash caught Tsukuyomi off guard, he glanced at the stall with a bored look on his face. When he turned his attention back to the trio, Reina was once again smiling and Itachi had a look of contentment on his face.

Only it wasn't Reina.

Reina ran through the woods that surrounded the compound, leaving her clone in the market; she couldn't run as quickly as she would have liked given that her kimono was restricting her movements. Her obi felt too tight, like it was squeezing the very air from her lungs. She blended in with the forest, she becoming just another shade of green amongst the leafy foliage.

She was going to throw up.

Leaning against a nearby tree she vomited up what was left of her meagre breakfast. Reina rested her forehead on her arm, closing her eyes to will away the nausea. She could feel sweat run down her back, the heavy layers of silk adding to her rising temperature.

“This has to stop now. I can't go on like this.” Reina breathed in, attempting to catch her breath and steady herself. She wasn't going to get anywhere frantic. She had to keep cool. She was lucky she had such control over her chakra; back in the academy she had an affinity for shadow clones given they required good chakra control. Tsukuyomi wouldn’t be able to sense the difference between the real her or her clone unless someone told him; over the years she had successfully mastered acclimatising her chakra – it was the perfect camouflage.

In this instance though it wasn’t her chakra control that worried her, it was her emotions.

Tears threatened to spill over her lower lashes. They weren’t tears of sadness, they were tears of pure frustration and anger. Tsukuyomi had no right, no right to decide how she lived her life. In the all too near future, she was about to lose the man she loved; the man who had given so much and was about to give even more. Kohaku would lose his father and Sasuke would lose his brother all over again. All because the kami decided to meddle in the affairs of humans.