Simple Manipulation

.:Eight:.

By August, Ko's mother have forgiven and forgotten the past. You were allowed to spend the night and occasionally she could do the same. When time permitted, Kohana spent time teaching you all that she'd learned so far in Military Academy. You weren't very good at it, but you could at least fight. Life rearranged itself, restoring you and Kohana's friendship.

However...

Your "relationship" with Itachi nosedived into nothingness. Words failed you when he announced he would start attending Military School with Ko. When you asked him if it had anthing to do with you and him, he didn't reply--he merely turned and walked away, leaving you in the school yard clutching your books...on the first day of school.

"I don't see how I never noticed before." You whispered to Sasuke through your hands which covered your face at the lunch table that afternoon. "I mean, you'd think you'd notice when someone suddenly stops seeing you as much as he used to."

Sasuke shrugged and sipped the juice from its carton slowly, "He told me not to say a word to you. You were so preoccupied with Ko that you didn't notice the slow decrease of time he was spending with you."

"That's just it!" You put your hands down on the table and looked at him, eyes red and slightly puffy. "How could I have noticed otherwise? I haven't spent this much time with her in so long..." You shook your head, swallowing the excuse you were about to use. "Why didn't he tell me?"

"This is Itachi we're talking about. There's no telling what was going on up there in his head." Sasuke attempted to push his hair out of his face but it ended up falling back to its original place. "Even though I was told not to tell then he didn't say anything about what to say once you figured it all out."

His quiet tone caught your attention and you leaned forward so that he could whisper and still be heard over the loud cafeteria roar.

Sasuke looked around a bit then leaned forward himself. "The decision came the morning our dad found you in Itachi's bed."

Your jaw dropped. "W-what?"

Sasuke leaned back and down into his seat, shoving his hands into his pockets. He looked down at his untouched plate with a scowl. "Yeah. I had went in to tell him that about the police officers that were there to question him. I guess right after I left our dad went in for him. He said they had some words...and it came out that in order to avoid jail he had to agree to attend Military School."

Tears lined your eyes and your throat began to burn horribly. "He what?"

Sasuke nodded. "He chose to go to Military Academy for you." Sasuke looked into your eyes, his beginning to mirror the black hole that Itachi's eyes often reflected...especially when angered. "I don't see him as much as I used to. He usually doesn't get home until well after I've gone to bed. This Military Academy...it just doesn't seem right to me."

"Kohana usually gets out at eleven at the latest. What time does Ita--"

"One or two in the morning."

This caught you by surprise. "Why so late?"

"That's what I'd like to know!" Sasuke shouted causing a few surrounding tables to grow quiet and look at him curiously. He lowered his voice. "I mean...I have friends that go there including Ko. They say even the teachers leave when they do. There's no one there past midnight. We aren't that far from the school itself so you can't say that he has a long way to walk."

You both sat in silence for a moment, allowing the information to marinate. "Could it be...that he's up to something?"

Sasuke's eyes swallowed you whole as he stared at you. "A few months ago, things started getting weird between my dad and Itachi. Like, they rarely spoke then suddenly my dad's wanting to stop and chat with him. And they weren't friendly talks either, but more like...more serious." Sasuke looked into your eyes, seeking your understanding. "And every single time they talked alone, Itachi would always lock himself in his room for hours at a time or stay later at school than normal, coming in at like four in the morning."

"Ever since he started attending that school?"

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah...D-do you think...that school's changing him?"

You nodded then pushed your corn around on your plate using your fork. "I asked him if I had anything to do with it...he didn't answer."

"Yeah. He rarely talks to me anymore. He's always busy and keeps telling me 'later'. It's been two months of 'later'." Sasuke whispered bitterly looking down at his hands. "And Dad's always going on about how good he's doing and how proud of him he is."

"...I'm gonna talk to him then."

He looked up at you. "And say what? Assuming he actually does stop to talk to you. What do you think you could say to him that would change anything?"

You shook your head. "You misunderstood me. When I said I was going to talk to him, I meant that I was gonna ask him what the hell is going on with him. I want to know the truth. I want to know everything. I'm tired of being left in the dark."

"What about me? I've lost my brother in all of this!"

"Sasuke...anything you want to know, you have to ask him yourself. We have two very different connections to Itachi. You can't expect to get the same answers to the same questions when they have different meanings when asked by a certain person."

"....What?"

You shook your head and stood up. "We can talk later. I'm gonna go find him."

~---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~

It really didn't surprise you to find him near the Nakano River. "Itachi--"

"You're supposed to be in school. How can you ever hope to graduate with high marks if you spend all your time chasing me around...(y/n)?" He turned his head slowly to look at you. It hurt to see the empty, emotionless look he gave you, like you didn't spark anything in him anymore.

"Y-you didn't explain earlier--"

"You've talked to Sasuke. You know everything you need to know by now." He turned around to face you then found a seat on a good sized boulder.

"How do you kno--"

He closed his eyes, forming a triangle with his fingers and thumbs in front of his face. "You wouldn't be here otherwise...would you? You would have continued asking yourself questions until you couldn't handle it anymore. He gave you information you couldn't process without hearing it come from me."

You swallowed spit to attempt to wet your suddenly dry throat. "Then...?"

"It's all true."

You swayed a bit then slowly sank into a sitting position with your legs in front of you. "W-why didn't you--"

"Tell you? For what? We both knew the odds of it happening before it even happened. As far as attending the damned school, what choice did I have? My freedom was threatened. Over a fling." He looked away as his charcoal black eyes seemed to pick apart a leaf. "I made the best choice for the both of us....things are better this way."

"You...aren't serious." You shook your head. "A fling?"

"That's basically what it was. We never brought up the subject of boyfriend and girlfriend. Quite frankly, I don't think you could have handled that title anyhow." He smirked, thinking of how you were so easily manipulated at first. "Besides all of that, I just don't have the time I used to have. I can't even, nor am I supposed to, tutor you anymore."

Without warning, tears fell down your cheeks. "Couldn't handle it?" You looked at him, vision blurry. "I couldn't handle it?"

He grimaced and covered his face for a second as he thought of a way to reword what he'd just said then looked at you. "Not like that. I was thinking of--"

"You were the one who..." You sniffled and struggled to get to your feet. "You didn't want me!"

"That's not true." He whispered, shaking his head. "I did. More than I should have. If what you're saying is true, then why am I going to Military Academy?"

You looked at him. Tears blinded you. "You spent all that time with me and didn't ask me once about a relationship. You seemed like all you wanted was--"

He covered your mouth with his hand and made a soft shushing sound. Your heart pounded in your ears as a barely noticeable breeze caught up with his movements, showing you just how fast he was. "Not. True."

You waited until he moved his hand. "You don't understand at all...do you?" You looked up into his eyes. "You have no earthly idea what you mean to me."

His lips moved but no sound came. He blinked slowly calculating his options. "(Y/n)," His hand moved to caress your cheek as he brought his mouth closer to yours, "One day, you'll open your eyes a little wider and see the whole picture--all of me and everything past me. Right now, I'm blinding you, dulling your senses. I don't want you to be like that."

You frowned with confusion, shaking your head trying to understand what he meant. "What?"

"That's exactly what I mean. When I'm around, you see nothing but me...nothing else. You're too vulnerable when I'm around. How can you protect yourself this way?"

Great. Now of all times he decides to start speaking in riddles. "Itachi, I--"

He nodded, capturing your chin in between his thumb and index finger. His lips torched yours with a kiss that left your face feeling warm. His fiery red eyes captured you as he leaned close and spoke with acute precision, as if merely reciting something he'd rehearsed many times before. "You don't know just how mean you are to me. You come into my life, changed all the things that I believed and knew to be true with your fairy tale logic and foolish imagination. You made me care about things that I once didn't even find reasonable. Now you stand here, accusing me of only wanting your body when it was your mind that first caught my attention. It was your mind that I was first interested in more than anything else. Think about it. I found joy in playing mind games with you. Your body became an interest well after I knew I'd always keep you around me."

"Itachi--"

He put a finger on your lips. "Listen for a minute. You mean more to me than you are willing to admit to yourself. You can't accept the fact that I'd go to a different school if it would grant you peace and sleep knowing that I wasn't rotting away in a prison for you. You can't understand how someone like you, as you'd put it, could possibly be enough for me. Can you?"

You shook your head as your eyes filled with tears.

"Well, you are." Itachi sighed and leaned back a bit. "As long as you promise me something, (y/n)."

"Y-yes?"

"Promise me that no matter what happens, you'll always be mine." The look he gave you was chilling to the bone, causing you to shiver and hug yourself. You took a step back. "Pledge your heart and soul to me. Elect me King of your entire being." He smiled and held out a hand. "Trust me."

'He'd never hurt me...he'll keep his promises...he...love me...' The words echoed in your head as you mentally talked yourself into making the promise. With a deep breath, you nodded then looked up at him.

"Say it."

"I promise, Itachi, that I'll always be yours...no matter what."

He inhaled deeply and let his head drop back, eyes closed yet smiling. When he looked at you again, his eyes were their natural charcoal. "I promise the same to you, then."

His kiss was powerful enough to nearly knock you down but he caught you, backing you up to a nearby tree. "It will be a while before we can do this again..." You didn't even get a chance to ask him what he was talking about before he'd started palming your breasts, tongue kissing you roughly. It was hard to process what was going on because it was happening so quickly. When things finally slowed back down enough for your mind to resume processing, your shirt and bra had been pushed up and he was sucking on your nipples. The sensation caused your head to start spinning with pleasure and you had to bite down on your bottom lip to keep from moaning, to keep from being heard by anyone else. His feather-like kisses moved down your stomach as he pulled your panties down to your ankles, eventually taking them off of you. You blushed as he tucked away your favorite pair into his back pocket with a wicked smile then put one of your legs over his shoulders, leaning forward and licking your wet mound.

"Itachi!" You whispered as your knee buckled but he quickly grabbed it and held it firmly in place, re-inforcing it for you. He suckled on a part of you that drove you crazy, causing you to instinctively hold his head in place and buck your hips towards his mouth. He let you do this for a few minutes before abruptly pulling away and standing up.

"Not yet...just hold on for a bit longer." He turned you around and bent you over, placing your hands on the tree in front of you. You felt your skirt be pushed up over your hips exposing your butt and blushed. "Don't be shy. By now, I'm sure I've seen every inch of you." He chuckled in a way that made you melt but relax as the sound of his zipper was heard. It took a minute before you felt something warm and hard prodding at your wet opening. You looked back over your shoulder to see him trying to guide himself in. You turned back around and felt him slide in, filling you with a familiar sensation that caused you to cry out. He went slowly at first then started thrusting faster. Soon you both were moaning loudly as he gripped your hips tightly thrusting as hard as he could.

"I-I can't hold on..." You whimpered as your legs started shaking.

Itachi leaned over, laying his head on your shoulder while massaging your breasts paying special attention to your hard nipples, still thrusting. "Then let go." He whispered huskily into your ear, nipping on your earlobe. You nodded then relaxed, instantly climaxing. Feeling you orgasm hard caused Itachi to lose his concentration and he, too, climaxed.

~---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------~

You didn't care how much time was left in school; you needed to go straight home to shower. You were on cloud nine. You held the jacket that Itachi had given you off of his own back tightly to your chest, inhaling his scent. You turned onto your street and stopped.

"Did you have fun?" Kohana asked, arms folded over her chest and smirking.

You blushed and looked away, nodding.

She laughed out loud then caught herself, still smiling. "I was wondering how long it would take for him to catch up to you."

You stopped smiling, confused. "What do you mean? I was looking for him this whole time."

She shook her head. "Every night at school, he always asked about you. He was always looking for you."

You thought about it. "He never mentioned it to me."

She shrugged and pointed towards her house with her thumb. "Let's go to my house."

You nodded looking around then fell in step beside her, passing Itachi's house. "I don't think I've ever been this happy."

Kohana put her hands behind her head, and sighed. In her room, you plopped down in her beanie chair, tired. She laid down on her bed, quietly flipping through a spiral that you assumed had her notes in it.

"So, how are things with you?" You asked, attempted to start a light conversation.

"Hm. I'd have to say confusing."

"How are things confusing?"

She sighed and rolled over onto her side facing you. "When it comes to Itachi, I mean."

You started to frown but caught it, settling on a confused look instead. "What about him?"

"(Y/n), I'm sure Sasuke's talked to you about it."

You looked around, avoiding her hard stare. "Yeah..."

"I go to school with him. I've talked to his teachers. There's no reason he should disappear at night like he does. Whatever he does, it has nothing to do with school. Until we know for sure what he's doing, I think it's best if you kept your distance from him."

A million emotions washed over you, yet only one of them lingered. "What?"

She sat up, sensing your anger. "Hear me out, okay? Until we know that he's not doing anything that goes against our village, you should stay away from him. You don't want to get dragged down with him over something you know nothing about."

"Let me tell you 'something you know nothing about', Kohana." You stood up. "What Itachi and I do is none of your concern, therefore, you have no right to tell me what I should and shouldn't do."

"First off, it was just a suggestion. I don't care what you two do--"

"Then why did you feel the need to say something?! Are you still jealous of us?" You folded your arms.

"Excuse me?" She looked at you, cleaned out her ears, then moved closer. "Did you just ask me if I'm jealous? Of what? Sending your boyfriend to a school he doesn't even want attend?"

"You like him too!" You pointed. "Maybe you never got over the fact that he chose me over you so now you're trying to keep us apart!"

Her eye twitched as she fought the urge to hit you. "Will you wake up?! I used to like him, thank you very much. When you two started "dating"," she used her hands to make quotations, which hurt you, "I moved on to someone else. Someone who you haven't even noticed yet you talk to all the time."

"Just because you say you've moved on doesn't mean you can't be jealous, Ko."

"Look. All I'm saying is cool it until he starts acting normal again, okay? It's my understanding that he's not supposed to see you at all until you're a year older. Can't you wait until your birthday?"

"Hmph." You picked up the jacket. "You know Kohana, I thought you were my best friend. I thought you'd always be on my side...I guess I was wrong." You mumbled, storming out of her room. She followed you.

"Oh my God! Listen to yourself! You're getting all pissy just because I suggested something you don't like. Quit being a damned baby and listen to reason for a second."

"You know what?" You whirled around and pointed a finger in her face. "You've been trying to take care of me since the minute my parents died. I never asked you to be my parents or my sister. If you think you can sit there and tell me what to do, you're very wrong. So do me a favor okay? Stay out of my life."

She was too shocked to stop you as you slammed the front door.