Sasuke Uchiha and I

Chapter 9 - Lying to an Uchiha

Haku nodded as if he had known this was coming. "You are scared?" I couldn't shake off the feeling that this was a statement and not a question, nevertheless, I decided to answer.

It took a while for me to remember the adjective, "I'm terrified. I am too young to die."

"You are never too young to die," Haku replied in a cold voice. "It's getting late, you should go to bed or the Akatsuki will get suspicious."

I shook my head in protest, had I said something wrong? What is this kid? "But our deal--"

"--will be dealt with tomorrow night. Good night Winter." I got up and helped chain Haku's hands to the wall. I made sure the evidence of the food we had was all gone and I walked the short distance to the door. I turned back to Haku.

"It was all an act, wasn't it? The crying and acting like a... weak child?" I searched for the right words.

Haku's head tilted to look at me from a different angle, the way he did it was almost... inhuman. "I am weak," Haku smiled, "Just not stupid."

With that, I exited the room quietly pushing the door closed. I now had more questions than answers and I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking. Suddenly, I smacked into the Akatsuki's bedroom door and I whimpered. Crap. I ran quickly and silently down the stairs and threw myself at the wall. I quickly thumped my back against the wall and listened to the clicks that it made. With my arms back in the chains I pretended to be asleep hoping that I didn't wake the Akatsuki.

Unfortunately, I heard footsteps coming down into the chambers where I was kept. I knew I couldn't fake sleep in front of them and so I made the smart and un-suspicious move to open my eyes.

"You're awake Winter?" It was Itachi.

"Yes, but I am nearly asleep so please don't lecture me right now," I said in English trying my best to sound sleepy.

"Did you hear a thump just now?" Itachi questioned me. I bit back my tongue to suppress myself from telling the truth. I couldn't lie and say I didn't hear it because that would be unbelievable.

"Yes I did," it escaped my mouth. I decided to just roll with it. "It was what woke me up." As soon as those words left my mouth I got a gutted feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Itachi took a step forward. "Really? Didn't you just now say you were nearly asleep?"

I racked my brain for a way to get out of Itachi's intense gaze. "Uh, yeah. I did." Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Itachi leaned in so his face was inches from mine and he looked in my eyes. I felt cold and afraid as I remembered Sasuke's cold gaze. I looked away not wanting to meet Itachi's eyes. He lifted his hand and placed it on my jaw, moving my head to meet his eyes. "Then why did you say that the thump, woke you up? To be woken up Winter you have to be asleep. You said you were not asleep yet. Why?"

I clamped my jaw shut as my eyes bore into his. Warmth spread over me like a blanket. Itachi's eyes were not cold like Sasuke's eyes, they were filled with warmth. Itachi must have seen my confused expression so he squeezed my jaw and forced it open, telling me without words that he wanted me to speak.

With my new found warmth I answered, "Itachi, you're hurting me," with as much innocence as I could muster.

Itachi's gaze became confused and he released my jaw. I proceeded to open and close it, stretching it out.

I mustered up the courage to lie to Itachi. "I was asleep, but then the thump woke me up and because I am such a heavy sleeper I was nearly asleep until you came in to grill me with these questions. Is something wrong?"