10 10 - Stargazing

Alright so since someone from last chap addressed my whining. This will be the last chapter where i begrudgingly stop writing my warnings. Since this is the 10th chap u already probably made a choice to stay or just wait til the story goes to shiit.

{a/n: u see that there, ez 30-40 words added to the chapter word count}

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Itachi leisurely entered his little courtyard and went to his room. Opening the door he blankly looked at the feminine figure one the bed before he went to find a change of clothes. He was now topless as he used his to cover the naked girl.

He found some normal clothes the previous Xiao Che and thought it was better than nothing and proceeded to wear them but as he was doing so he heard faint footsteps

The owner of those footsteps seemed to have suddenly stopped in front of his courtyard. The careful footsteps stopped right in the middle of the courtyard and went no further… because in the room was the untouchable Xia Qingyue. After sneaking around the courtyard for what seemed like half a day, the owner of those footsteps left as quietly as they could, the same way they quietly snuck in.

' An intruder, but they are quite weak. I'll be on guard just in case ' Itachi thought. There were many people that hated or despised him but for someone to actually send someone to check on him.

It would either be if it were an attempted assassination or something else. The fact that the intruder was only at Elementary profound realm, he crossed out the elders as they would have at least made sure to get someone stronger and experienced to make sure to hide any traces. After all his grandfather was the strongest expert in Floating Cloud City.

'So that just leaves the youths, most probably envious because Xia Qingyue is here. The most probable answer is Xiao Yulong, as not only does he have a position to command others, he is also the one who attempted to poison me' Itachi thought

' I'll keep an eye on him, but if he becomes a bother I will get rid of him '

--

Meanwhile:

It was night and Xiao Yulong could not sleep. He looked out his window with a frantic expression on his face from time to time.

The door opened and Xiao Yang's hurried footsteps had come in. Xiao Yulong narrowed his eyes and asked: "How is it?"

"This…" Xiao Yang carefully looked at Xiao Yulong's expression and spoke with great care: "I just came from Xiao Che's place, Xiao Che seems… to not have been locked out."

"..." Xiao Yulong's hopeful expression dropped off his face.

Xiao Yang's heart thumped and he hastily said: "But you don't have to worry Boss. Xia Qingyue even views the guys from the governor's mansion and the Yuwen family with a contemptuous disregard, how could she even like that Xiao Che of a wastrel. Although he had not been driven out, it's probably because… because she pitied him. She probably does not want him to get laughed at…. although he is in the same room as Xia Qingyue, I doubt they are lying on the same bed. He's probably laying on the ground right this minute… that must be it.

Xiao Yulong's dark uncertain face cast his eyes in the direction of Xiao Che's courtyard. He clenched his fists: "Xia Qingyue is the woman I want, and no one can meddle in my affairs! I will personally check out what had happened. Absolutely do not let him touch Xia Qingyue !!"

"Yes!" Xiao Yang quickly answered.

--

Back to Itachi

Itachi was in deep thought as he looked at the figure sleeping on the hed. He originally thought she was at the Nascent Profound realm but even after he broke through, he still couldn't sense her cultivation.

There were two plausible answers to this, either her cultivation was even higher than that of Nascent profound and is actually at the True Profound realm or she had a treasure for concealing her cultivation.

' It could be either one but at the same time, it could also be both. After all it is indeed possible she has higher cultivation, but at the same time its also possible to have a treasure to conceal cultivation ' Itachi thought as he closed his eyes

But after thinking about it he thought both was the correct answer. She was a disciple of Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace, one of the four great sects after all. She was bound to be strong so it was possible she was indeed in the True profound realm or higher.

At the same time she could also have an artifact to conceal her cultivation. After all none of the elders questioned or even sensed her cultivation. He was in deep thought when he heard Xia Qingyue speak.

" You are back"

Itachi opened his eyes and asked in an emotionless voice " Is there something wrong with returning to my own home?"

" No it's fine " Xia Qingyue said. There was silence for a long period of time before Itachi broke it. He sensed that she wasn't going to sleep anytime soon anyway.

Closing his eyes once more he asked her "When are you leaving?"

" Excuse me? " Xia Qingyue asked

" As a disciple of the Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace, do you really expect me to think you would stay in this small city?" He replied

"...One month " Xia Qingyue answered

" I see. Well, you are probably only staying because of me and for the fact that you still think you owe my late father. Then you have my thanks " Itachi said. How could he not know such trivial things. Xiao Che and Xia Qingyue were from different worlds.

Not to mention she was a disciple of one of the four greatest sects. She would not willingly stay in Floating Cloud city if not for the fact that she might still think she owes Xiao Ying. Much less being the wife of a cirippled person. Even if she did, maybe her master wouldn't.

"..." Xia Qingyue didn't reply as she was still somewhat confused at his comment. Itachi sensing this once more spoke clarifying what he meant.

" I meant that you might have asked for one month stay here. With someone of your talent, I doubt that the upper echelons of the sect would delay your recruitment. I offer you my thanks, as if you left right after the marriage, people might have slandered my grandfather and little aunt" Itachi said.

" I see " Xia Qingyue said before she went back to bed. She was surprised at how calm Itachi was and how selfless he was. She could see that he really didn't mind people slandering him but his reverse scale was if they pointed their fingers towards his precious people. After a while of deep thought she decided to sleep.

Itachi had waited for Xia Qingyue's breathing to stabilize indicating that she was indeed asleep before Itachi left again. He was tired after his breakthroughs but after meeting the mysterious little girl his fatigue had vanished.

He went to walk around and maybe find clues on who was sneaking around. He knew it wasn't Xiao Yulong since he wouldn't want his reputation to be damaged if he got caught trying to peek at a married woman. He was already sure it was Xiao Yang but he wanted to see if he could get solid evidence.

As he walked without a destination in deep thought he heard footsteps on the Xiao Clan's back wall. ' Is that the same intruder?' Itachi Questioned. ' No, it's too light than the one before'

He stopped as the shadow also noticed him " Who is it?" A feminine and familiar voice sounded off.

" Little aunt " Itachi said as he smiled slightly.

"Ah?" The shadow let out a quiet gasp, then quickly ran over. Coming closer, the moonlight revealed a dainty but charmingly elegant cheek. It was precisely Xiao Lingxi. Upon clearly seeing Itachi, she opened her eyes wide. "Xiao Che? Why are you here?"

" I had too much in my mind so I couldn't sleep... I came to stargaze" He said

"Stargaze? Tonight is your wedding night, you aren't with your Xia Qingyue consummating… consummating your marriage, but instead came out here to stargaze?!" Xiao Lingxi grabbed Itachi's arm, an angry pout on her face. "Don't you know that it's dangerous here? From time to time, profound beasts will come out, and when it's this dark, sometimes bandits will come here. What would happen if you carelessly ran into them? I have told you many times now, if I or your grandfather aren't by your side, you absolutely can't come out here, even if it's during the day. You actually… did not listen to my words!"

Listening to her worried voice he smiled lightly as he pulled her back and flicked her forehead. "You don't need to worry about me little aunt, as I am always careful"

" Ouch! You- How dare you! " She pouted as she began to pinch his arm

"Ah! It hurts, it hurts!"Itachi hurriedly yelled and then apologetically said, "Little aunt, I know I'm in the wrong, next time I definitely woud'nt dare to." He didn't know why but he was comfortable with Xiao Lingxi and got the feeling of wanting to act childish or mischievous when she was around. It reminded him of when he played with Sasuke as a child.

"You want there to be a next time?!" Xiao Lingxi glared at him with her beautiful eyes.

"… No. If I want to come to the rear mountains in the future, I definitely will call for little aunt to come with me." Itachi said as he laughed a little. Even though he didn't need her company anymore he still vowed as he didn't want his little aunt to worry.

"That's more like it… There's not allowed to be a next time!"

"Then, what about you Little aunt? Why are you out so late" He said as he gazed at her

"I…" Xiao Lingxi's voice lowered, her eyes appearing a bit hollow. "I don't know why, but I couldn't sleep tonight. Then I saw that the stars were really bright tonight, so I wanted to come to the rear mountains to take a look."

Itachi looked up as he gazed at the bright stars. "In the past, little aunt and I would frequently sneak out here at night to enjoy the evening wind and look at the stars… And would frequently get caught and scolded by grandfather."

"Hm." Xiao Lingxi responded, then quietly said, "I also thought about that, so I thought I'd see how it felt to come out by myself to stargaze… Because in the future, I might not be able to stargaze with little Che."

" Oh, and why so?" Itachi asked genuinely curious.

"Stupid! Because little Che is married! In the future, you should be accompanying your wife, Qingyue, to bed at night, rather than coming out to enjoy the evening wind and stargaze." Xiao Lingxi coldly glanced at him and then pouted for some reason.

He smiled slightly before he went to pat her head. " Silly that's not true. As long as little aunt is willing, no matter when, I would willingly come here with little aunt to stargaze. Aren't I doing that with you right now?" He said warmly

"You're still saying that! Sneaking to the rear mountains during your wedding night… Ah! You weren't forced out here by Xia Qingyue, were you?" Upon thinking of that, Xiao Lingxi's face filled with rage and she stamped her feet: "Hmph! That's too excessive, I'm going to go find her!"

" Of course not. You don't need to worry about her." Itachi said as he grabbed Xiao Lingxi's hand. "I wasn't forced out here by her. I came out by myself. Maybe I wanted to meet little aunt"

"Ah…"

Leading Xiao Lingxi by the hand, Itachi walked through the cool evening wind towards that familiar place.

This was a small hilltop covered by soft and tender grass. Itachi and Xiao Lingxi leaned against each other shoulder to shoulder, bathing in the occasional evening wind, their hearts at peace.

"I thought that after little Che got married, I would lose a large part of you. Xia Qingyue is so beautiful, better than me in every aspect. I was afraid that once you had her, you would always stay at her side, leaving me with less and less time with you." Looking at the night sky, Xiao Lingxi's eyes overflowed with a wavering light that was even brighter than the stars.

"Little aunt really didn't believe my words at all." Itachi sait as he replied, "I clearly said this morning that in my heart, Xia Qingyue can't compare to little aunt. Little aunt forced me… Er, wait no, promised with me. I firmly remember, and will definitely willingly comply…"

"After I marry Xia Qingyue, I won't forget about little aunt just because I have a wife. I'll spend the same amount of time with little aunt like before, I will listen to little aunt's calls and would arrive as soon as I'm called just like before. And lastly, although Xia Qingyue is now my wife I don't have any special feeling towards her. She definitely won't outweigh little aunt"

"…" Xiao Lingxi had a dumbfounded expression on her face and the look in her eyes blurred. "I know that was a bit excessive. I was just… just playing around. You really kept it in your heart all along?"

"Of course." Itachi nodded without hesitation as he put his palm on top of Xiao Lingxi's head. "Because little aunt and grandfather are the most important people in my life. Other people can't compare. Little aunt, I promise you, even though I'm now married, you won't ever lose me, just like I hope to never lose you."

"Hehe…" Xiao Lingxi happily smiled, her hands hugging Itachi's arm. She rested her head on his shoulder. "As expected, my little Che is the most well behaved, most obedient."

A dark cloud floated through the sky, temporarily blocking the full moon, immediately dimming the surrounding lighting.

"Now that I think about it, it's been a long time… no, it seems like it's been quite a few months since we came out here to stargaze together. When we were little, whether it was winter or summer, we would frequently sneak out here. I remember one winter night, at this very spot, of course the sky was filled with many stars. We watched for a long time, then accidentally fell asleep against each other… Turns out that it unexpected snowed that night, and we were frozen while sleeping. When father found us, we had already become two little snowmen. Afterwards, we only recovered after staying next to the stove for two days and drinking a lot of bitter medicine. Father was really angry, but was reluctant to spank me, not to mention you. So after we got better, he made us shovel a large patch of snow as punishment."

Itachi smiled as he reminisced at those memories, although not his own he still had experienced it with Xiao Che's memories "And then, we only shoveled for a bit before we started playing in the snow. We even made a big snowman that really looked like grandfather. He didn't know whether he should laugh or cry. Once he started laughing, he completely forgot about our punishment."

"Uh huh! Father was always like that. He usually looks really fierce, but he could never bring himself to spank us even once and would only put on a show to scare us. No matter what, as long as we threw even a small tantrum, he would obediently listen to us." Xiao Lingxi's face was full of warm laughter.

"One time wasn't like that." Itachi laughed. "On my twelfth birthday, when you were eleven, grandfather got you a small courtyard, and forbid you from sleeping together with me in the future. I remember you would beg Grandfather every day, crying and shouting, and even angrily stopped eating. But grandfather was extremely unyielding. No matter what he wouldn't let you sleep in the same bed with me… as time passed by, you could only obediently follow his order."

"That… That's because I was really young, and had a lot of things that I didn't understand!" Xiao Lingxi lightly pinched his shoulder. "Some girl things I only learned after growing up, hmph."

"What things?" Itachi widely opened his eyes, his face full of suspicion.

"That… That boys and girls can't sleep together after they grow up! I can't believe you didn't know!" Thinking about what had happened before, Xiao Lingxi added another sentence: "Also, they can't randomly kiss like when they were little!"

"Ah, so it's like that…" Itachi glanced at Xiao Lingxi lovely cheek, dyed jade under the bright and beautiful starlight. He quietly leaned closer: "But, I always want to kiss you, what should I do?"

"Then marry me!" Xiao Lingxi replied with a proud face, her pink cheeks raising slightly,

"If you weren't my little aunt, I would definitely marry you," Itachi said as he moved away from Xiao Lingxi, closing his eyes as he enjoyed the night breeze. He had unconsciously muttered that because it was what Xiao Che felt towards her and it somehow tuned in with his past feelings toward Izumi who was too much similar to Xiao Lingxi

{A/n: Don't you question that!. Even if they were like 13-14 he still showed her a genjutsu of where they married... BIITCH!}

"…"