Serve and Protect : Itachi Uchiha

Chapter 20

Itachi couldn't sleep. Foul dreams didn't plague him like they had done previously. It was the words of the young kunoichi beside him that kept his mind reeling. She wore her heart on her sleeve and cared without restrictions. She cared for him. He wasn't sure if there was anyone else who held his well-being in such high regards. She was so fiercely protective of him, that he wasn't sure who was who's bodyguard.

Her heart was truly as golden as her eyes.

The mahogany haired kunoichi lay beside him, their bodies a snug fit on the futon. Kami it was soft. Like sleeping on a cloud. Regardless, he couldn't lull his racing thoughts.

“Reina?” Itachi whispered. “Are you awake?”

“Hm? Yeah, sorry. Is my lamp keeping you up?” Reina replied over her shoulder, she huddled near a tiny chochin lantern at the edge of the futon.

“No, no. I just can't sleep.” He murmured. He heard rustling and a sudden huff of air sent to room into darkness, the shadows swallowing the walled shunga paintings in one gulp. Reina scooted over to his side of the futon, helping herself to a portion of his pillow.

“What's on your mind?” She asked, tucking her hand underneath her cheek. Itachi glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. She always managed to get him talking, perhaps that was her kekkai genkai and not the Soujuu bloodline.

“Just what you said before, about doing things all over again.” He whispered.

“And?” She prompted.

“I don't think I could? Not now. Not after having a taste of what I've missed out on.” Itachi furrowed his brows. All his life he had had a rigid sense of loyalty, he always knew what was expected of him and what his life entailed. But now…

Now things were different.

“Even stupid things like being hungover or playing the games we did.” Itachi paused, the memories of his birthday flashing through his mind's eye. “All of those things I'd missed out on weren't important, up until I knew what I was missing out on…”

“To be honest, I'm surprised you even remember what games we played. You were as drunk as a skunk.” Reina chuckled.

“I remember most things.” He said. “I think.”

Reina quirked a brow and pouted her lips in amusement. “What exactly do you remember?”

Itachi remained silent. He cast his mind back to the night he consumed his bodyweight in alcohol. “I remember the beer pong and the tag-team twister? Iruka got cramp and then you tried to cheat.” He added slyly. “After that it's hazy.”

Reina blinked. “So you don't remember going into the cupboard,” She paused. “with me?” Itachi turned his head to look at her.

“Why did we go into a cupboard?” He frowned. Reina scratched her head, he able to make out the blush that filled her freckled cheeks.

“I could show you?” She offered quietly. “I'd have to get really close to you though…”

“How close?” Itachi narrowed his eyes. Reina shuffled over and closed the space between them, her body partially pinning him down. They were suddenly chest to chest, her hair a curtain either of his face.

“This close.” She whispered, her breath falling onto his face. Instinctively, his hands rested on her waist, as if they naturally belonged there. He swallowed silently in attempt to steady his breathing.

“Why were we this close?” Itachi murmured, his mind a maze of foggy images. Yet the one constant, was the smell of peppermint and feel of sunshine on his skin.

“I told you, your chakra smelled like rain.” Reina smiled at the memory. “And you asked if you could hold me to see what I smelled like.”

“And what did I say?” He breathed on to her lips. Reina smiled, she chewing on her lower lip as though in thought. Tentatively, Reina thread her fingers through his hair, the ebony strands loose. The other rested upon his chest, his pulse strong beneath her palm.

“You said,” Reina whispered, trailing her nose along his cheek, nuzzling his skin. “that I smell like sunshine.”

“Oh?”

“Ahmm.” Reina hummed, her lips vibrating against his skin. “You also said it wasn't the type of sunshine that blinded you. No, you said it was the type of light that warmed you from the inside out.” Her mouth travelled from his cheek to the curve of his jaw, her lips dragging over his skin. His toes curled.

Reina slid her fingers from his hair to the collar of his yukata, peeling the fabric to the side as her lips continued southwards. “You told me it was the type of sunshine you want to bathe in.” She pressed a swift kiss to his throat where his pulse thumped in his veins. His hands gripped her tighter, holding her against him. Reina smiled.

“Then you said it was the type of sunshine that you wanted to lounge in.” She pressed another kiss further down his throat, her lips barely touching the surface. “You said it was the type of sunshine you never wanted to end.” She rested her lips to his collarbone, her tongue and teeth nipping over the indent briefly, his breath hitch in her ear.

“Then what happened?” Itachi managed to say. His mouth dry and his stomach bubbling with anticipation and an unfamiliar feeling that spread below the depths of his abdomen. Reina abandoned his throat, alongside the small mark she had left blossoming on his pale skin. She hovered over him, her body pressed entirely against his.

“You asked if that satisfied my curiosity.” She whispered on to his mouth, their breaths mingling together. “I'm pretty sure you were going to kiss me, but you didn't.”

Itachi trailed his eyes from hers to her lips, they parted in anticipation of his answer, before he looked back into her eyes. “What if,” He paused, licking his lips. “what if I kissed you now? Would that be alright?”

Heat flooded his body. Even in his cotton yukata he felt as though he was back in the onsen; his blood was boiling and his palms were clammy. He wanted to touch her. To attempt to count the freckles on her body to see if the ones that occupied her face, also occupied the rest of her. Reina nodded, her nose rubbing against his. Her hands were cool on the base of his throat, her thumb grazing over his collarbone in idle shapes.

Reina didn't kiss him. She waited. Waited for him to make the move. Again, it was his decision. His choice. Itachi slid his hand to her jaw, his thumb brushing over her lower lip before it resided on her cheek.

“I was a fool for not kissing you then.” Itachi muttered before capturing her lips in one fell swoop. Reina instantly melted into the kiss, his lips soft against her own. Yet there was something there, underneath the tenderness. Something raw and untouched.
They broke the kiss. It short, sweet. She tasted of peppermint, the menthol lingering on his mouth. In that moment, something changed. Like the moment before a huge chemical reaction or natural disaster.

“Kiss me again.” Reina breathed, her chest ragged and her lips slightly swollen. Itachi didn't need to be told twice. He rolled over, Reina now pinned beneath him; they were a tangled web of limbs and hair. Itachi kissed her again and again, their kisses becoming more heated as their tongues and teeth grazed. The moment Reina took his lower lip between her teeth and nipped him, Itachi knew he wanted things to go further.

Reina knew it too.

“Can I untie your yukata?” Itachi asked, his cheeks flushed and his chest heaving to catch his breath.

Reina nodded and smiled. The search for consent continued until there were no clothes left for them to remove. They lay against each other, bare flesh sticking and sliding as they became clammy and slick. The shunga paintings looked on proudly. Their position was by no means adventurous by the shunga standards, but it was enough for them. Every touch and buck of their hips had them moaning each others name.

It was uncharted territory, yet Itachi made sure that he left no part of her body unexplored. He made sure to kiss every freckle he came across, paying particular attention to the one between her thighs. His name never sounded so sweet as it did falling from her lips. She returned the favour. Her own name joining his when she took him into her mouth.

If this was wrong, then he didn't want to be right.