Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ A Simple Consideration ❯ Surprise Gift ( Chapter 1 )

Usagi stared inside her bag once more, making sure the small package was still there. She held onto the shoulder straps tightly, her body tense with anxiety.

 

It was Itachi's birthday and she wanted to make sure she brought the perfect gift for him. Because he had particular tastes, Usagi didn't want to feel she gave him anything less than worthy. Making a mental note for the twenty-ninth time that the package had not jumped out of her bag from its own sheer will, she breathed slowly in order to calm her nerves. It's just Itachi. No big deal. You see him almost every other day. Just say hello, give him the gift, hang around a bit and make your way out slowly. But her internal pep talk did nothing to console her, for she continued to sweat ever so slightly and a small blush adorned her cheeks.

 

A thought crossed her mind as she continued to make her way over to his house. What if he didn't like her present? Would he simply discard it when she wasn't around? Would he refuse it all together? Usagi didn't think she could handle the rejection and slowed her pace down. She looked sadly towards the ground and began to ponder over her predicament. It was one thing if he accepted graciously, but if he refused the gift to begin with….No, she wouldn't allow herself to think that. Even if Itachi never showed interest in petty gifts, he was still a polite and gentle shinobi. He would accept the gift, thank her for the gesture and bid her farewell.

 

Shaking her head to rid it of any negative thoughts, she sighed in exasperation and groaned in annoyance. And before she could think about anything else, she stopped at the front of his house. Usagi smiled sadly as she looked over his house. Compared to her place, it looked like a mansion. The house was definitely old fashioned. His doors were shoji sliding doors and she noticed that each mat was carefully handcrafted with the best translucent Warlon rice sheets in the entire Land of Fire. Even the wooden dougoung were beautifully interlocked. The entire estate was a masterpiece. And this place befitted Itachi. He was a well respected shinobi, a prodigy of his clan, a genius of his generation, captain of an Anbu squad, and a powerful Jounin. He deserved to live within the best that life had to offer, which brought up another question for Usagi.

 

Was her gift good enough?

 

And so she glanced down into her bag, for the thirtieth time. Perhaps it was better to just forget the whole thing? She decided that was probably the better option so as to be saved from the humiliation. He probably would have hated it anyway.

 

“What are you doing here, Usagi-chan?”

 

Usagi jumped in surprise and clutched her bag tightly. She whipped around sharply and stared into the eyes of the culprit that scared away any recollection of her previous thoughts.

 

“Sasuke-kun…I…” She mentally scolded herself for not only being caught off guard but for also finding herself so tongue-tied and flustered. You're a kunoichi! Get a grip! Before she could manage to form anymore coherent words, however, the younger boy looked at her with a knowing smile and spoke first.

“You're here to see my brother, aren't you?”

 

“How did you….?”

 

Sasuke sighed; irritated that she would insult his intelligence. “It is his birthday after all. And you're not the first girl to come by and drop a present today, you know?” He motioned for her to follow him inside before Usagi could question what he had meant by that last statement.

 

Usagi stepped inside carefully, surveying her surroundings. She noticed that the house was eerily quiet. She glanced over at Sasuke who was carefully removing his shoes. “Where is everyone? Aren't you guys celebrating his birthday?”

 

For a brief moment, Sasuke had a sad look but it disappeared quickly right after. “No one is home. Mom is at the market, dad is working in the Uchiha Police HQ and Itachi is at a meeting with his officers. We always want to celebrate but he always insists it's a waste of time. The truth is Itachi doesn't really like celebrations, especially with the clan.”

 

She removed her shoes and placed them right at the entrance as he told her this. She saw the brief sadness in his eyes and worried about the family. “Aren't you lonely being all by yourself?”

 

His face was away from her vision so she couldn't see his reaction, but Sasuke slowly turned to her with a small smile. “Come on,” was all he said before walking through a dark corridor.

 

Gently, she placed her bag near her shoes and followed Sasuke into a large room which she could only assume was some sort of parlor. The floors were made of tatami, a huge contrast to her plain wooden floors. The walls were a smooth creamy color and there were some scrolls with ancient text cascading down to give the room a flavor of décor. The room only had simple furniture, a long wooden table at one end and a few cabinets on the other end. After marveling the inside of his house, she couldn't decide whether it was as or more beautiful then the architectural exterior of it.

 

“You can put yours over there. He might look through them later.” Sasuke pointed over to the side of the room with the long wooden table and she scolded herself for not noticing it earlier. There were stacks of trinkets she originally assumed were part of the décor.

 

Usagi ignored this, though, because it was Sasuke's last comment that confused her. She looked over at him and gave him a perplexed look. “Might?”

 

He shrugged in response. “Who knows if he will or not? Sometimes he has mom and me look through them and sort them out. He's so busy nowadays that he never has time for trivial things.”

 

She frowned even more upon hearing this. It was probably better to have just gone with her other instincts and forget the whole thing. If what Sasuke said was correct, then he probably wouldn't have time to sort through all the gifts. And hers would only add to the list of chores Sasuke and his mother would have to do for him.

 

Usagi slowly walked over to the table holding the gifts, still debating on whether or not she should leave her package among them. She picked up one of the items and brushed it with her fingertips carefully. “Actually, I just came to….” She inspected it as well as the rest of the items on the table and scrunched her brows when she noticed that most of them were either scrolls or weapons. Some of them were also clothes, specifically designed for shinobi in order to combat. They were created to allow complete maneuverability. “Do all these gifts really belong to him?”

 

“Yeah, they do, and good thing, too. Knowing my brother, he'd want something practical anyway. At first I thought the girls were going to bring him something stupid like a charm or stuffed animal, but he'll be relieved to see that all these gifts are actually useful. Some of them brought scrolls containing special jutsu, and weapons hand crafted to perfection. Even the specially modified shinobi uniforms will help him out. To be honest, I wish he'd let me borrow some of the scrolls. And I wouldn't mind practicing with these weird shuriken I saw…”

 

Usagi was no longer listening to Sasuke as he continued to ramble about his brother's gifts. She shut her eyes to hold back the tears that threatened to spill as she thought about her new dilemma. How could I be so stupid?! Of course he'd want something useful. He is Itachi after all! All these women got him these wonderful gifts and I just….

 

Sasuke was no longer talking as he noticed the sudden change in Usagi. “Hey, what's wrong?” he asked with genuine worry.

 

Usagi clenched her fists in order to fight the tears. “I….I…just…” She couldn't cry at a time like this. It would just prove how weak she really was and then she'd be humiliated for weeping over such a stupid reason. It was her fault for thinking her gift was perfect for him. She should have known she would have messed this up, just like she messed up everything else in her life.

 

Sasuke was worried at this point and almost made a move to walk over and make sure she didn't hurt herself when she picked up that weapon. He would have managed to get there had she not spoken first this time and stopped him right at his tracks.

 

Usagi conjured up all the strength she could and ignored her sorrow. She opened her eyes and smiled sadly. “Actually, I just wanted to stop by and wish your brother a happy birthday, that's all. I hardly see him anymore and thought I'd pay him a visit.”

 

“That's all?” he asked, unsure of whether or not to believe her story.

 

Usagi sighed and answered somberly. “That's all.” And with that said, she bowed graciously, left the room, hastily picked up her bag and ran out the door.

 

Sasuke didn't quite register what just happened. Everything was fine one minute and then suddenly….He decided it was best to just ignore her antics. Most of the women he had come to know were just as peculiar if not more, so it didn't surprise him one bit. He closed the door she left open and walked away. Before he could turn around completely to leave, however, a glint of light caught his attention just out of his peripheral vision. He walked over towards the small object on the ground and picked it up. In his hands was a small silver box tied with red ribbon.

 

He untied the ribbon carefully until it fell carelessly onto the floor. He opened up the thin box and raised an eyebrow, slightly vexed about the contents inside. His eyes traveled from the gift and back to the door of which Usagi had just exited. Piecing everything together, he smirked to himself, shut the box and retied the ribbon back on.

 

 

 

It wasn't until later that evening that Itachi returned home. His meeting had gone on longer than expected, and he was relieved to know that he didn't have another mission waiting for him. He could rest a little easier knowing his weekend was completely free. After sliding the door open, he slipped off his shoes and dropped his sack at the entrance. “I'm home,” he announced to no one in particular.

 

Mikoto was the first to answer as she carried a small casket of laundry over to the adjacent room. “Oh Itachi, you're back. Your father's not home yet. Sasuke and I all ready ate if it's okay with you. I left your dinner on the kitchen counter.”

 

Itachi walked passed her and replied with a polite thank you. As he walked into the kitchen to grab his food, his mother added in a few more comments.

 

“By the way, you still haven't gone through all your gifts. Would you like to look through them later or would you rather want us to sort them for you?”

 

“Yes, that's fine,” he replied before grabbing his food and walking towards his room.

 

His mother frowned and sighed as her son still had not clarified which option he preferred. She assured herself that he was probably exhausted from a long day's work so she made a mental note to get Sasuke to help her sort out his gifts.

 

 

 

Itachi walked over to his room with some food at hand. Truthfully, he was trying to avoid having to deal with the gifts. They were all from girls of which, he noted, held a particular interest in him. Since he really didn't want to assume a responsibility or commitment, he preferred avoiding the gifts all together. Itachi sighed knowing that the girls would eventually come up to him and inquire about whether or not he liked their gifts. He would worry about that later. For now, he wanted to enjoy the rest of his birthday in peace.

 

That peace, he noticed, would have to wait. Upon sliding the door to his room open, he noticed Sasuke sitting casually by his kotatsu with several trinkets surrounding him.

 

“It's about time you showed up. I've been waiting for you.”

 

He was a little irritated that Sasuke was here, especially after having endured another boring and pointless meeting. “What is it you want?”

 

Sasuke only smiled mischievously and tossed around a scroll carelessly. “I sorted through about half of your gifts. Mom and I will have to finish it up tomorrow. I just came to ask if I could borrow some of these scrolls.” He finished up by balancing a scroll with one finger.

 

Itachi walked over, snatched it from his grasp and placed it on his nightstand. “Next time, don't sneak into my room without my permission.”

 

Sasuke only pouted and leaned back on the floor, propping his body with his elbows. “You're lucky you know? Most of the stuff you got will probably be useful on future missions. Someone even had a new uniform for you.”

 

“At least they had enough sense to give me something practical.” Itachi was only half listening as he attempted to eat his dinner alongside his brother.

 

“Let's see, there were some hira shuriken tied by a thin chain. I think they'd be really good at fooling opponents into thinking you have control over their trajectory. I was wondering if I could borrow them.”

 

“Whatever,” he replied, without a trace of emotion. “Were all the gifts weapons?”

 

“Weapons, scrolls…you know, the usual you get every year.”

 

He didn't bother to ask anymore. When it came to weapons, he wasn't too particular. Using heavy weapons only slowed down his movements, made him more cumbersome, and inhibited his accuracy and precision. If the weapon was too light, then it would not inflict heavy enough damage to even mildly injure an opponent; therefore, he liked to keep it simple when it came to using weapons, especially projectiles. After all, he was a Jounin. It didn't matter what he used, the result of any fight would always end with him as the victor. As for the jutsu in the scrolls, they couldn't possibly be of any worth to him. These were all jutsu from childish women. They couldn't possibly harbor any true, raw power. They were probably basic techniques such as water clones, fireballs, and standard genjutsu; all of which he mastered long ago. If that was the case, they would actually be more suited for Sasuke anyway since he was almost graduating from the academy. His new uniform was another annoying gift. Even if the clothes were tailored specifically for his needs, he found it a bit unsettling to wear something one of his strange admirers gave him. To conclude, he found no interest in any of the gifts.

 

“Actually, now that you mention it…”

 

Itachi halted all his thoughts and focused now on Sasuke who looked as if he was hiding a secret. He placed his chopsticks right beside his plate and silently asked his brother to continue his sentence.

 

“There was one gift that was different.”

 

He merely stared in response and Sasuke knew that was about as much of a reply he would get out him. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the silver box from earlier and tossed it carelessly towards him.

 

Itachi caught it with two fingers and stared at the small package. He turned it around and inspected it entirely, even noting the messy way the ribbon was tied. He glanced over to Sasuke who was now walking out the door. “It's from Usagi-chan,” was all he said before sliding the door closed behind him. Itachi decided that he would make sure to secure everything carefully from now, unless he wanted his brother to invade his personal property again.

 

 

 

Looking up into the sun, Usagi waited patiently for Itachi to show up. She found a note with her mail, automatically recognizing it as Itachi's. He had the day off and wanted to resume their training because he would be spending the following day with Sasuke. She now stood on the bridge they were supposed to meet at and leaned casually over it. She stared down into the water and thought about the events of the previous day. The gift she meant to give him had gone missing from her bag and she wondered if it fell while she ran away from Itachi's house the other day. Even if it fell on the streets, the gift wasn't addressed to anyone, so she could avoid the public humiliation. It was so humbly wrapped that it could easily be mistaken as garbage. Perhaps someone casually tossed it away? Any of these scenarios would have been fine but the one that constantly plagued her was it falling inside the Uchiha house. What if Sasuke picked it up, or worse, Itachi?

 

But she figured that couldn't be the case. He would have thanked her in the note, right? Itachi would have avoided the awkwardness of personally thanking her and just mentioned it in the letter. Then they could resume meeting each other without him feeling uncomfortable. But then another thought occurred. What if he didn't like the gift? What if Itachi was avoiding the issue? But if that was the case, he would feel uneasy meeting her, at least, that's assuming he even cared at all.

 

Before Usagi could continue worrying, she was poked softly from behind and she found herself, once again, jumping in alarm. She turned around sharply and grimaced when she saw it was Itachi. “What is it with Uchiha men and creeping up on people?!”

 

Itachi frowned in confusion. “You're a kunoichi of Chuunin rank. You shouldn't be afraid of someone poking you from behind.”

 

She glared and knew that she must've had a flush face. “I wasn't scared. I was….surprised.”

 

“You shouldn't be surprised either. If you had half a sense to pay attention, you would have noticed I was briskly walking over here.”

 

Usagi didn't respond but pouted and averted her gaze away from him in order to try to hide the blush on her face.

 

“We're going to do our training in the forest this time. We'll continue on from where we left the other day. Did you study the scrolls I gave you or did you slack off again as usual?”

 

Usagi was furious he would think so little of her. Of course she studied the scrolls! She was about to give him another earful when an object caught her attention. Around Itachi's neck was a simple and elegant necklace. The same necklace she had bought him for his birthday. The string was black and it had three silver circular designs. According to the man who sold it to her, each silver circle represented three different Shinto deities: the goddess of the sun, the god of the moon, and the god of storm. By wearing the necklace, a person demonstrated a sense of balance and stability through acknowledging all powers man can possess: body, mind and soul. The item exhibited a sense of strength, inner and outer; which was why she thought it was perfect for Itachi.

 

“Well…?”

 

She looked from his necklace up into his face and gave him a genuine smile. “Yes, I did.” And she walked off towards the direction of the forest with a silly grin plastered on her face.

 

Itachi scowled as he noted Usagi didn't clarify whether she studied the scrolls or not. Not bothering to question her anymore, he assumed she did and followed her closely behind.

 

 

 

 

Reviews/Comments appreciated. I'm thinking of making this a two-part story. You'll see how the next chapter goes if/when I come out with it.