Happy birthday to me!! Happy birthdaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to me!! (Winces as the glass windows crack and shatter). ....O.o.... Oh Well. Enough of that. On to the story, cause I'm sure that's all you really came here for. Here you go!

Chapter 7. Previous Addiction

Naruto emerged from the bathroom fully clothed with cheeks flushing scarlet. He looked almost feverish as he took the baby from Itachi and sat down on the couch. The assassin observed them silently, but his eyes belied a gentle patience that Naruto seemed to take comfort from.

"Her name is Midori," he said, looking down while rocking her gently.

"The color of her eyes." Itachi noted.

His eyes shifted subtly to take in Naruto's face and features. Deep blue eyes stared back at him, framed by long messy blond hair that hung down over his face. Three small scar-like marks would have marred each cheek, but Itachi found beauty in the flaw and he soon found himself unconsciously admiring the blonde.

Abruptly he snapped himself out of it, knowing for certain that nothing in his face could have possibly given him away.

"How do you do that, Itachi-san?"

Itachi raised one aristocratic eyebrow. "Do what?" he asked, his voice rich velvet to Naruto's ears.

"You make your face so cold...like you're a stone. It's impossible to tell what you're thinking." the blond explained simply with a shrug. Below his breath, he added, "I was like that once."

Unbeknownst to him, Itachi was able to hear him perfectly thanks to his profession as an assassin for the ANBU. Still, to keep up a pretext, he walked over to Naruto and sat down, an expression of bemusement on his face.

"Did you say something?" he asked.

Itachi found himself glancing down at the blonde's arms, scanning for the same silverish markings that accented Naruto's legs. He made sure to do this carefully so as not to attract Naruto's attention, waiting until he was crooning at the small infant before raking his eyes over Naruto's arms.

Sure enough, the thick white lines were there, marring the veins by his wrists. Some of the shallower cuts were demarcated by thin silver marks while the deeper ones were purple. They were scattered randomly across both of the boy's arms, growing denser as they neared the thick white scars marring his wrists. A slight growl escaped past Itachi's lips, but he quickly reined it. Unfortunately, the temporary loss of self-control did not escape Naruto's attention.

"What?" he asked, turning his attention to the older man beside him.

"It is nothing of your concern."

Naruto's brows furrowed.

"Even your words are cold." he frowned, glancing up into Itachi's eyes.

He was held captive by the pained look in the assassin's eyes. They were a dark charcoal, but even as he watched, they slowly bled into fiery crimson orbs before turning black once again. The pain was still there, still staring him in the face, and it hurt him to look, but he couldn't turn away.

"Who...are you?" Naruto asked, edging away from the older man slightly, tightening his grip on the blanket-wrapped bundle cradled in his arms.

"Please." Itachi said simply, and that one word was raw and laced with anguish.

Naruto remained stiff, an expression of barely concealed fear frozen on his face, but he stopped inching away.

"Please." Itachi repeated.

"Okay..." said Naruto, his voice full of uncertainty. "Okay..."

Itachi stood in one swift, fluid movement and was beside Naruto in the next second. Slowly he bent down and his cool, dry lips pressed against Naruto's forehead. A small gasp escaped past Naruto's teeth, but other than that he did not speak.

The blonde yawned, suddenly feeling exhausted from the disturbed sleep he'd been having the past several nights he'd been there. It seemed like just when he thought his dreams were safe, Orochimaru appeared, tainting them with his vile presence. Then the nightmares came to plague him until he woke, frantically searching the darkness for the yellow eyes he knew would not be there.

Still...Naruto gently untangled one hand from the bundle and traced it down the fresh scratches on his opposite arm. A hiss issued forth from his mouth as the hot pain flooded through him. The older man caught his hand in a blindingly fast movement and set it down firmly by his side.

"That is unnecessary." Itachi began, his words and tone too formal to make a big impression on Naruto.

"Oh..." was all the blonde could say. "You noticed?"

Naruto flipped his arm over and traced a finger down his arm, feeling the indented scars that seemed to proliferate every time he looked at them. Itachi took his hand again, but this time he used it to push up the sleeve of his black shirt. Instead of letting it go, he gently ran Naruto's fingers over his wrist.

Naruto could not stifle his gasp, which was partially at the sudden spark of electricity that seemed to shock him when they touched and partially at the way the other man's arm felt. Ridge after ridge after ridge made his fingers tingle as they pushed against the raised scars marring Itachi's right arm. Finally, the man released Naruto's hand.

"You see." Itachi spoke again, but this time his voice was calm, almost patient, and understanding. "I too have had a previous addiction."

Naruto's face turned scarlet and he mumbled something lowly beneath his breath. Itachi caught every word, but said nothing, waiting for the blonde to speak again.

"Why?" he asked. "You...Never mind. I should know better than to do that."

Itachi sighed uncharacteristically and ran a hand through his long black hair, which was free for once of its usual ponytail.

"It is a long story, and one I cannot tell completely, but I will do my best. Sometimes things heal when you share them."

Naruto whipped his head up, startled, blue eyes wide and brimming with uncertainty.

"That's okay," he said quickly. "I don't need to know the story behind it...them." he added, tacking the last part on.

"I think that perhaps if I tell you my story, you will be willing to share yours?"

"I can't." Naruto said flatly. "I don't want to talk about it."

A bemused expression flitted across Itachi's face, but it disappeared so quickly that Naruto doubted he'd seen it in the first place.

"You are right." Itachi agreed. "You don't trust me enough yet. That makes sense."

"I'm sorry!!" Naruto blurted out unexpectedly.

The corners of Itachi's mouth turned up slightly. "You've nothing to apologize for."

"No...that's not what I meant. I meant...sorry...for being here...for taking up space in your apartment...for...well...everything. I'll leave now."

"At four-o-clock in the morning?" Itachi asked, a strange half-smile on his face.

"Is it really that early?" Naruto asked, yawning again as a wave of exhaustion hit him.

The past several nights of restless sleep were getting to him. Suddenly the temperature around him seemed to drop dramatically. He shivered once, twice, and closed his eyes. His grip on Midori loosened, and in one swift blur of a movement, Itachi was holding her in one arm and Naruto's sleeping form in the other arm.

'He hardly weighs a thing.' Itachi thought as he walked to his spare bedroom and set Naruto down on the edge of the bed. Then he pulled the covers back, picked Naruto up again, and slid him down between the covers before pulling them up. The blonde did not stir once during all of his movement, but that was because Itachi was still maintaining the cold atmosphere. He lowered the temperature of the air around him slowly until Naruto's eyes began to move restlessly beneath his eyelids.

'Good. He's in REM sleep.'

Itachi allowed the air around Naruto to warm up gradually until it had returned to its normal temperature around a mild seventy degrees. After making sure that Naruto was still dreaming, he got up and left to put Midori in the center of his bed. However, his plans were foiled when Naruto's hand reached out and took his.

"Don't leave." he mumbled, talking in his sleep.

At the same time, Midori let out a fitful sigh and opened her clover green eyes. A dribble of spit filled her mouth as she sighed again, then blinked at him as if to say, "You're not leaving him, are you?"

"Oh no." he said to himself. "Oh no. I did not ask for this. I did not ask for this."

He was absolutely positive that the...thing...could understand him because a low, keening wail filled the room.

"You had better not cry." he said, looking down at the infant in his arms.

She sniffed tearfully, opening and closing her mouth again and again, as though she were deciding whether or not she felt like crying.

"I'm serious." Itachi said sternly.

The temperature around him plummeted rapidly until little Midori closed her eyes and fell asleep within seconds. Itachi warmed the atmosphere again and set her down beside Naruto, who still had not let go of his hand. Itachi pried it loose and flexed his fingers. The king-sized bed had enough pillows for Itachi to make a "barricade" around the child so that she would not roll off the bed.

He sighed and crossed the threshold, ready to leave and return to bed, but just then Naruto whimpered in his sleep.

"N-No." his breath hitched in his chest, then sped up. "Mm...mm. N-No. Please."

Itachi moved in a blur, at enough ease to use his full speed. Besides, no one could see him. Naruto was asleep and so was Midori, but even if she'd been awake, she wouldn't have been able to understand. He placed his hand on Naruto's head, which he found to be slick with perspiration.

Slowly, gently, he traced one long, pale finger down across Naruto's face. The skin felt as smooth as satin, even with the scars that marred his cheeks.

'I wonder if he will ever tell me how he received these scars.' he thought to himself.

He stood over Naruto, occasionally stroking the blonde's face or touching his hair, but always erect and prepared to wake him in case he started scratching at his arms again. Dawn found him in the same position. He stifled a yawn as he reached to caress Naruto's blonde hair, something he hoped to be able to do again in the near future as he'd found it to be utterly soft, silky, and almost irresistible.

When Naruto began to stir three hours later, Itachi stepped from the room, feeling something akin to regret as he shut the door behind him and walked to the kitchen. He set the coffee maker to brew French vanilla coffee and began whipping eggs with milk for breakfast. Sure enough, the eggs were just finished cooking and he'd moved on to the low-fat, low-sodium bacon when Naruto emerged from the spare bedroom rubbing one blue eye sleepily.

"Morning." Naruto said, sniffing the air. "I knew I smelled something good, but you didn't need to make me breakfast. I would have been just fine with cereal...Not that I don't appreciate it!!" he added. "It's just that I wasn't expecting that. You don't have to do things like that for me. I'm gonna leave today so..." he paused, not knowing what else to say but knowing at the same time that he was babbling senselessly.

"Good morning." Itachi said cordially as he set a plate for himself and a plate for Naruto on the table, effectively putting an end to Naruto's protests.

"Oh..." was all Naruto could say. "Thank you."

They ate their breakfast in a silence that neither of them were willing to break. When they finished, Itachi stood and took Naruto's plate and set them in the dishwasher.

"I would like to take this opportunity to ask you something, Naruto. And I ask this because I know not what your situation is." Itachi said as he turned to face the blue-eyed blonde before him.

"Um...Okay." Naruto replied.

"I would like it..." he paused. "...very much...if you would consider moving in with me."

Naruto blinked once, blinked twice, as comprehension slowly dawned on him.

"What?" he asked.

He continued to stare at Itachi questioningly while the other man watched him with an expression on his face that could not be more serious.

Well...that brings this chapter to a close. I apologize for the late update. As always, I sincerely apologize for not updating 'Into the Darkness'. I've got about 6 pages typed on that...Eh-he...I'll probably post it up soon. Reviews will be much appreciated. I'll try to have the next chapter up sooner.