Red Butterfly

Chapter 95, Speed Race

"That place is filled with painful memories for me", she hissed through gritted teeth in response, tipping her face closer to mine.

"So you wanna run away from it?", I narrow down my eyes as I scrutinized her face.

"Hmph"

My eyes then widened momentarily as I saw her hand move.

My father would vaguely talk about how he used to rival his old teammate. He'd say that he could never match up to his teammate's speed.

It took all this to happen for me to finally realize that he was talking about none other than Hayate Namikaze.

In this moment, the crescent moon witnessed how I have finally surpassed my father.

My teeth were gritted against one another as the wind howled between us.

She was going for the easy way out of this conversation, via her Teleportation Technique. This was the first time that I beat her in her famous game, the speed race.

Before she could raise two fingers and use her Teleportation Technique to escape, I rapidly seized the hand she was going to raise. Clenching my grip on the small of her hand, I took her by complete surprise when on spur of the moment, I pinned her arm right behind her back.

I pulled her closer to me and secured my other hand on her hip to keep her in place. Her crimson eyes widened as she scrutinized every detail about my eyes.

The wind caused the long strands of our hair to flail around, creating see through curtains as we gazed intensely at one another.

"You don't have the right to do this", Hanabi growls through her gritted teeth.

"You think you have the right to do what you're doing?", I inquire, searching her face.

"I have every right to despise the Hidden Leaf", she growls, tipping her face closer.

"You think I don't have the right to hate it?"

My question takes her by surprise momentarily.

"You know more than anyone about what I've gone through, Hanabi. You said it yourself. I. Was. Never. A. Kid", I breath a little heavily as I let my breath fan her face.

"Your parents aren't dead, Itachi", she informed in a brittle, unsteady voice.

"Oh but they were supposed to", I say, wandering the endless abyss of her eyes, "and you know who was supposed to kill them?"

My heart clenches as I feel my own voice go brittle. I swallowed the lump in my throat that was supposed to make me choke on my voice before it came out.

"I was supposed to kill my parents with my own two hands, then join the Akatsuki as a mole for the Leaf", I choke out, hating the way my voice came out.

Hanabi's eyes grow tearful, which she hides away by tipping her head low. I saw a single glistening tear trail down her lowered face as I managed to calm down my pacing heart.

I loosened my tight grip on her hand that I pinned. I intertwined my fingers in hers before bringing her pinned arm back to her side, where I kept mine intact in hers.

Gently, I took her other hand and took in a deep breath before slowly colliding my forehead with hers. Our foreheads rested against each other and we stayed like this for a moment.

The wind flailed and twirled around never the less, giving me the cue that I should say something to conclude this argument.

"So believe me when I say...", I sniffed away, as my voice grew brittle when her shoulders began to tremble, "...that I completely understand how you feel. That we are one in the same boat"