Eita's POV

Itachi and I returned to the base the next day. "Out here again, Eita?" Itachi asked as he stood over me. "Yeah..." I replied in a mumble as I looked at him, only he was upside down the way I was looking at him.

I was outside the base, casually laying in the grass as I had my hands behind my head. About ten minutes later, Itachi found me. Not like I was really hiding though. "I thought you didn't like the sunlight." Itachi mentioned.

"You're right. I usually don't like the sunlight. But today... I don't know. I just feel like being surrounded by it's warmth today," I said. "Hey, what did you tell Pein when he asked where we were last night?"

"I told him I was going to "discipline" you."

"Discipline. I hate that word."

"This is the first I'm hearing of this. Anyway, since you're out here, why don't we work on your taijutsu?"

"Ugh, right now? But I'm tired."

"Tired, or just lazy?" Itachi looked at me, amused. "Tired." I stated, bluntly.

"Come on. The faster we get this done, the faster you can go back to being lazy." Itachi said. "I'm not lazy. Tired." I defended. "Right." He replied, sarcastically. I sighed and lazily stood to my feet. "All right, all right. Let's hurry up and get this over with." I mumbled.

Our session began and we began fighting each other. I took off my cloak so it wouldn't hinder me from fighting. Sometimes when I'm fighting, my cloak always gets snagged on something. It's annoying as hell. 

Itachi and I fought for ten minutes until I managed to catch Itachi off guard and pin him to the ground. "I win." I said. "Perhaps." Itachi replied. "Perhaps? What do you mean by that? It's clear that I won. I have you pinned." I stated.

"You may have me pinned, but..." I gasped when Itachi grabbed me and flipped us over so he had me pinned to the ground. "You shouldn't gloat so much to your opponent. That leaves you open and exposed," Itachi advised. "So, it looks like I win."

"Tch. Show-off." I frowned and looked away from him. "And because I won..." I gasped when I felt Itachi's lips on my neck. "H-Hey! What are you doing?!" I said. "Claiming my reward." He replied, smirking. 

"Stop, Itachi! We're right in front of the base! Someone will see us!" 

"You worry too much."

"No, I worry just the right amount!"

I gasped when he moved his knee between my legs. Before I could protest, Itachi pressed his lips against mine. His lips were soft and they were making me easily get swept away in the kiss. I kissed him back, closing my eyes. 

"What are you two doing?"

I quickly broke the kiss and tilted my head back so I was looking at whoever said that, only they were upside down. "Tobi? What are you doing here?" I asked. "Tobi wanted to play with Eita. But... why is Itachi on top of Eita?" He asked. 

"We were training." I said, quickly. I sat up and stood to my feet as Itachi did the same. "What kind of training were you two doing?" Tobi asked. "Taijutsu. We just finished." I said, walking past him and towards the base. 

I went to my room and flopped on my bed, lying on my back. "I heard you and Itachi last night." Inari suddenly said. I blushed madly before shoving my face into the pillow.

"Shut up, Inari!" 

"I didn't know you were such the submissive type, considering how many times you tried to seduce Naruto back then." 

"I said, shut up!" 

"I love it when you get all embarrassed. It's so fun to tease you."

I stopped talking to her as I waited for the redness on my face to fade away. Even though Inari can't see what I'm seeing when I wear the eyepatch, she can still hear what's on the outside, which kind of makes my whole situation a bit worse.  

"Give me a break, Inari." I mumbled into the pillow. "Are you getting all flustered again? You can't stop thinking about him, can you?" Inari teased, referring to Itachi. "You sure are loving this." I said, sarcastically. "Every last bit of it." She agreed. 

I rolled my eyes and tuned her out, falling asleep. 

*****

"Kakuzu, can I ask you something?"

"I'm not lending you any money."

"That's not what I was going to ask." I said, bluntly. "Then, what do you want?" He asked, impatiently.

"I need to borrow your bingo book."

"After a bounty, are we?"

"Pretty much. I need to let off some steam."

"You sound just like Hidan. Did he piss you off again?"

"No, and don't compare me to that Jashinist-yelling fool."

"Whatever. Here," He tossed me the bingo book and I got it with one hand. "Is there a specific target you're looking for?" Kakuzu asked. 

"Not exactly," I answered, flipping through the pages. "I just feel like fighting today."

"Ah, so that's the reason why you're interested in a bounty all of a sudden." Kakuzu said. "Hey!" I snapped as he took the bingo book back. "No need to go beating up on an innocent soul if a fight was all you were looking for." He said.

"What would you know about innocent souls?" I mumbled as he placed the book down on his desk. "Because it's a fight you so desire, I'll fight you. I have nothing better to do, anyway." Kakuzu mentioned. 

"You're gonna fight me?" I asked. "Just so you know, I won't hold back anything," He informed. 'I guess that's a yes.' I thought with a deadpan expression. "Let's go." He led the way to the training arena. "I'm starting to wonder if Hidan pissed you off today." I said as I followed him.

"So, how do you wanna do this? First person who wimps out loses?" I asked. "Let's just see how far you get." Kakuzu said. "Fine by me." I replied with a shrug. I didn't waste any time and began fighting Kakuzu.

But he was able to see through all of my attacks and managed to punch me every change he got. "Care to quit now?" Kakuzu said as he cracked his knuckles. "Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" I said, wobbly standing to my feet. 

"Why don't you just give up now? You're embarrassing yourself." Kakuzu said. "This battle will be over when I say it's over." I said, wanting to win. Kakuzu only sighed and punched me under my chin. Just before I could hit the ground, I felt my back rest against someone's chest. 

I looked behind me and found Itachi holding me against him. "I don't think I wanna know." Itachi said. "We were just having a little sparring match." I informed. "And out of all the members, you decided to fight Kakuzu?" He asked. "Yep." I answered. 

"You can have him. I'm done fighting for now." Kakuzu said. "Hey, I didn't say we were finished here!" I called to him. I pushed myself off of Itachi's chest, but I ended up falling right back into him from lack of balance. "You're exhausted and you can't even stand up straight. Have your rematch later, Eita." Itachi advised. 

"Come again?" I asked, feeling a bit dizzy. "Here, lean on me." Itachi said as he took my arm and put it over his shoulder. He led me out of the training arena and to his room.

"I still don't understand why you chose Kakuzu to fight out of everyone." Itachi stated as he treated the bruises on my skin. "Because I felt like it." I answered, simply. He sighed at my answered. 

I hissed in slight pain when he rubbed healing ointment over a bruise on my torso. "You know you don't have to do this. My wounds will heal over time, eventually." I informed. "I know, but this is the least I can do as your lover." He mentioned. 

He gently kissed my torso, making me blush. "Itachi... I love you." I said, quietly. He looked at me, then smiled. "I love you, too." He replied. Itachi kissed me and I kissed back while closing my eyes. 

I broke the kiss and looked into Itachi's eyes. "Itachi... Let's walk for a bit."

Itachi and I walked into a nearby town for a while we went past a small store. Right there on display, was a dog collar on the neck of a mannequin. I stopped walking to stare at the dog collar.

Without even realizing it, I was blushing as I thought of ways how Itachi could use that on me. "See something that catches your eye?" I heard Itachi say in my ear from behind. I snapped out of it and quickly averted my gaze from the collar. 

"What do you hope will happen if I were to buy that, Eita?" Itachi whispered with a smirk. I didn't answer as I blushed again. "I... don't hope for anything... if we had that..." I mumbled, softly.

"You're lying. Even now, I can tell you're thinking about what I could do to you with that collar." Itachi said before nibbling on my ear. I closed my eyes, my face getting redder. He held me against him and began to kiss down my neck.

"Itachi, no. We can't do this here. If someone sees us-"

"You're always worrying, Eita. Learn to relax a little."

His lips left my neck and he turned me around so I was facing him. "With or without a collar, you'll always be bound to me, Eita." Itachi said as he lifted my chin so I was looking directly into his eyes. I slowly nodded my head, saying I understood as Itachi smiled and kissed me.

I kissed him back as he wrapped his arms around my waist. 'I love you... Itachi Uchiha.' I thought. This feeling... I know I've felt it before. Because I haven't felt this feeling in a while, I almost forget its name.

Oh, that's right. That feeling... is called happiness. 

Even if I do end up losing Itachi in the future, at least I can spend all the time I have with him right here and now.