The first good day [P]

Itami's lips formed a thin line and his eyes closed shut tight, involunterily. The disinfectant stung on his open wound and his hands formed into fists. 'if this hurts so much, i wonder - how much worse can the needle be?' he thought and a second later found out. As Mezurashii pierced the skin, he yelped but quickly calmed down again, trying to pretend as if he didn't just shout like a little girl because of a small needle.

He didn't dare move an inch after that, hoping it would soon be over. When it was, his eyes fluttered open. "Thank you Mez." he said, already in a better mood. Truly grateful, he smiled at her, an apology for before, shining out of his eyes. He hoped she understood.

He stood up then and upon hearing her words of caution, laughed lightly. "It's okay Mez, I'm sure the wound will not be a problem in my future spars. I can't just skip training because of a little scrape."
He looked at her with interest then. "You know, that isn't a bad idea at all. I think you would make a wonderful medical ninja Mez. And besides, there is still a lack of medics who are also ninja. Teams fight over them like they were golden. Which they are, in all sense. They can be the difference between life and death after all." he said a thoughtful look settling on his face.

He looked at his leg then, suprised. "I don't even remember getting hit." he mumbled, very quietly. Mez might have heard him or she might have not. His brows furrowed in concern. 'how far was i gone before?' he thought.

Mezurashii nodded at his thanks and laughed a little at his words. "I suppose not, but a little caution can go a long way" she said as she saw the apology shining in his eyes, for what reason? She wasn't entirely sure. She paused for a second and looked at him.

"Really? I thought medics were treated more like someone who needed protecting, because they don't have that battle experience. Though I suppose that makes sense, considering how many ninja die before they make it to the hospital" she said and a memory of finding her father near death from her patrol mission flashed in her mind and she shook her head.

She didn't hear what he said but the look of confusion told her he didn't remember, she stared at him for a long time while he stared at his leg. She sat down next to him, not taking her eyes off him.

"Itami... When we were fighting, after I had got you with one of my shuriken, your eyes... they turned into a darker red, and it was as though you weren't really conscious during that part of the fight" she took a deep breath "were you even conscious?" she asked, she knew the way she worded the question it must have sounded odd but she could only hope he understood what she meant.

Itami contemplated the experience. He really didn't remember getting hit by Mezurashii. Closing his eyes for a moment, he rubbed his temples and as Mezurashii sat down, opened his eyes again, staring down at her as she spoke.

"My .. eyes ... changed colour?" he asked, breathless all of a sudden. Eyes changing shades of red were a particular trait of his father. Whenever he was angry, drunk, sad or just plain crazy, his eyes would be blood red. Itami couldn't believe his eyes changed as well. Did that mean that in time, he would become like his father?
"NO!" he yelled and then immediately put his hands over his mouth, not meaning to say it out loud. He looked at Mezurashii, scared.

At her second question however, the scared look turned into a sad one and he dropped his arms. "I - I wasn't myself Mezurashii. I didn't mean to hurt you ..." He gulped nervously and paused.

"But yes. Yes, I was conscious."
He looked at the floor, his eyes watering. "But it was all a blur Mez, you have to know that I didn't mean any of it. I - I didn't feel anything. And I didn't even register some parts of it. It all seemed like in a dream; when your brain isn't the one in control over the situation."
His head shot up, looking at her, a pleading look in his eyes.
The sadness caused them to turn redder again, though nowhere near the blood read shade from before. It seemed different emotions had different shades reserved.

Itami turned away from Mez then, trying to hide the fact that tears were about to spill out at any moment. Why was he such a freak? Just when things started getting normal ...
He knew it was inevitable that she asked him about it. But for a second, while she cleaned his wound, he hoped she wouldn't and they'd be able to just pretend like it never happened.
It was too late now though.

He picked up his shirt and jacket and squeezed them both, the excess water pouring from them. He sniffled and tried turning it into a cough.
He didn't dare turn around. Mezurashii probably left, scared or angry.

Mezurashii tilted her head as Itami processed what she said, jumping when he yelled in panic. After that he started rambling a bit, but she understood most of it. It seemed like a really useful trait to have, as far as she knew, but it seemed more like a curse to Itami. To be able to ignore pain and continue on with only instinct, very few ninja could do that.

She stood when he did, though he refused to face her, he grabbed his clothes and practically strangled them with the grip he had on them. He coughed slightly but she knew what was going on. Sighing Mezurashii wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on the back of his shoulder since he was facing away from her.

"You should know me well enough by now, Itami. I don't care about your ability to fall into your instincts like you do, I don't care that your eyes change colour. If I was uncomfortable with it I would've already left, you know this" she said to him. Holding him in a way that if he wanted to move away he could, but it was tight enough for him to feel it and, hopefully, feel safe and supported.

Still facing away, Itami tensed the second Mezurashii hugged him. Firstly becuse he was sure she left by now and was quite startled, and secondly because he was so suprised she wasn't ridiculously mad at him.

Her comforting words made sense though and a small sobb escaped Itami's mouth. In times like this the fact that he was only eleven years old showed through. He was still young enough to not be able to hold back tears in cetrain moments in his life. Despite growing up mostly by himself, with a looming presence of his father occasionally checking up on him, Itami still felt like a little kid at times.

He wiped his eyes with the wet ball of clothes. Their meetings always seemed to end this way, with Mezurashii comforting him. She was such a selfless person, Itami almost couldn't believe it. He turned around, breaking the hug and spoke: "I can't believe you exist." A second later he laughed at how absurd that sounded. "What I meant was, it is hard to believe a person this nice and supporting exists and I of all people get to be one of your friends."

Mezurashii let her hands fall back to her sides as he turned around, she couldn't help but laugh with him. She lightly ruffled his hair when he finished talking, walking over to the bento lunches.

"I guess we all have little things that make us special" she turned to him and passed one of the lunches, sitting down under a tree she began to eat happily. Taking off her sandals and her fishnet shirt off because they were soaked and were uncomfortable, she sighed happily under the shade of the cool tree and continued to eat. Glancing at Itami every now and then to make sure he was fine.

Itami threw his clothes back on the ground, wiping his hands on his pants. He followed Mezurashii and nodded at her words shyly, accepting the bento lunch box from her hands. He sat next to her and leaned on the trunk of the tree, opening the bento box. He started eating slowly, and contemplated everything that happened in the short time they were sparring.

He was getting a little chilly, under the shady tree and without a shirt on, so when he finished eating, he stood up and walked a few meters away from the tree, where he sun hit the grass lightly. He stretched and lay down on the soft green grass, looking at the birds in the trees and the clouds that lazily rolled across the sky.

"Hey Mez?" he said. "What do you think our futures will be like?"

He asked that completely on a whim, the thought entering his mind suddenly. He often thought about things like that, imagining all the possibilities and paths that would open in front of him. He wondered what kind of people he would meet, what kind of battles he would have to face and what places he would visit.

Mezurashii paused and looked at Itami. What would their futures be like? Would they remain a team, even when they've reached jounin or higher? Will they even choose to be jounin? Will they marry or just remain single all their lives?

"It's impossible to tell really, some things are out of our hands while others are completely by choice. But I would like to think that even if our team splits up, we would all take some time to keep in touch at least" she replied and put her empty bento down as she stood and stretched.

Going onto her hands she started walking towards her hand before flopping down next to him. Sighing as the suns rays warmed her skin in a gentle caress, she smiled as the clouds passed by.

"What about you? What do you think our futures will be like?" she asked, keeping her eyes on the sky.

"I'd like to think so too." he said and smiled softly. He watched as she moved to the sunny area as well. Closing his eyes then, he said: "I like to imagine we all live in Konoha, you a succesfull medic and ninja, the best in Konoha and known throughout the lands, Nakara the proud leader of his clan and me a shinobi with perhaps his own little genin team."

He sighed and opened his eyes again, turning his head towards Mezurashii. "But some days, I get this horrible feeling that something terrible awaits us, and I get really scared."

Mzurashii smiled at his words about what he envisions, her smile turned into a comforting one when he spoke of his fear of what might come.

"If that day ever comes, you'll have friends to stand by you" she said before closing her eyes, standing up and stretched languidly. Sighing happily as her spine released the built up pressure with a satisfying 'pop' sound.

"How's your chakra? While we can't have full out spar, we can still do some basic taijutsu training" she offered "If not then we should head home" she held out her hand for him to take, if he wants to.