Bonds and Fates | Chapter 7

Title: Rainwater

She felt a drop hit her nose and she moaned in disbelief.

"The rain only just stopped! Why now? I forgot my umbrella!" the priestess exclaimed as the sky opened up. She quickly made her way to the nearest shelter and sighed absently, flipping her hair out of her face.

"Great. Now it's going to start curling," Kagome muttered, glancing up at the sky again. It looked like the shower was going to last for a while, so she settled herself in to wait it out.

'I thought it was supposed to stay nice today! I'll never believe the newspaper again,' she thought, huffing irritably and watching the water splatter on the street. Absentmindedly, she began to ring the water out of her damp hair.

At that moment, a raindrop leaked through the overhead and splashed onto her head.

"Aww man! This sucks so bad!" The priestess sighed and sank down onto the ground. She hated the rain. It was cold. It was wet. It was monotonous.

'It makes me sad; it makes me wish for what I've lost. I miss them... badly.'

Wrapping her arms around her knees, Kagome quietly began to cry.

For once, Itachi was glad that he had taken Kisame's advice and carried an umbrella into the village. The shark-man did have excellent senses when it came to weather, however, so it came as no surprise to the former Leaf-nin when the sky opened up and began to pour. Quickly sliding out the plain blue umbrella from underneath his black cloak, he flicked it open and suffered minimal damage to his person from the water.

'An unusual time for rain, considering it's August, but I've noticed this country doesn't seem to follow the standard weather format the others do,' Itachi thought, holding his hand out to catch a few droplets coming off the umbrella.

He was thankful, though, for the dull weather. It made navigating the village so much simpler. The S-class criminal didn't have to worry about people sending him odd looks.

'Not to mention I don't have to worry about running into her,' Itachi thought, idly window shopping in the heavy downpour. He noted a shop that displayed several weapons in the front window, and made it a point to remember to stop in there before he left for the day.

The Uchiha sighed, glancing down at his soaked toes, and shook his head.

'Worst day ever to wear ninja sandals,' he thought wryly, 'On the other hand, I have no other footwear. I'm going to have to pull out the spares. It's not that I mind the rain; I just need to be careful. If I get sick, it would take a monumental effort to recover. Especially if it's upper respiratory.'

His eyes scanned the normally crowded street, taking in what he could see and letting his above-average hearing do the rest. 'I suppose that's what I get for trying to gain more power than I could handle... at the time. Eventually, I won't even be able to see any of this.' He almost hoped that his younger brother would be strong enough to finish him off before then. Almost.

Thanks to his sharp ears, however, he was able to pick up the soft voice.

'Is that... singing?' He listened harder, filtering out the downpour around him in order to hear the pretty voice better.

"What if we played it out

a little longer

Would we have found

something more"

"Why does that voice sound familiar?" he asked himself, splashing as quietly as possible towards the sound and groaning. With his lousy luck as of late, he would run into-

"Why are there so many questions

that leave me asking"

-Kagome, of all people. She was sitting under a leaking overhang; eyes closed, and hair damp. 'Looks like she got caught in the rain. Why didn't the foolish girl take an umbrella?' Itachi's legs took him closer, the pacifist in him insisting on seeing her smile again. It wasn't like he hadn't seen her a few weeks ago or anything. 'Thankfully, that monstrous drooling beast isn't with her this time.'

"If we were wrong"

'What if... things had been different?' the Uchiha thought, really watching the girl now. Despite her incredibly sunny nature, she was hurting, deeply, for some reason. 'Could they have been different? Why must this girl always make me question my decisions?'

"Chances weren't in our favor

And the stars never"

He stood there, just outside of her rain barrier, and noted vaguely that there was a tear making it's way down her cheek. Or was that rain? 'She looks... wrong... without that smile. Like the world has gone dark.'

"-lined up quite right

'Cause I just lost

the one I loved tonight"

Had she really lost someone that important? Itachi would hazard a guess that her words were less of a song and more of a way to express the sadness she buried deep in her heart.

"I just lost

the one I loved"

He reached out, instinctively, to touch her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. He really didn't like the thought of her being sad. When his mind finally caught up with what he was about to do, though, the former heir cringed back.

"Tonight"

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